


To Be Dead Is Strange

by Fox_155



Series: NosferaCT - A Symphony Of Chaos (NCT Vampire AU) [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Canon-Typical Violence, Homelessness, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mild Kink, Slow Burn, Smut, but written by a very impatient person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-16 01:14:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Jaehyun had lived on the streets for years now, ever since his parents kicked him out.He hadn't planned to get run over by a truck, or wake up in a morgue without a pulse and weird new abilities. And he definitely hadn't anticipated meeting Taeyong, whose puppy eyes would have made his heart flutter - if it was still beating.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> This is set in Seoul, South Korea, in the year 1995, but with some creative freedom. I'm not using honorifics, because it'd get super-messy with all the vampires. Since this is in English, I also don't think they're actually needed. :)
> 
> Please check the tags.  
> Title is from Dance of the vampires.
> 
> This is part of a series, but you don't have to read the other stories to understand this one.  
> If you are interested in the other parts, check the series for the timeline. :)
> 
> TW: death

Jaehyun had his eyes on a business man. On his carelessly put away wallet, that peeked out of the coat pocket, like it was mocking him, to be precise. It’d be so easy to take it. He wouldn’t notice, until he reached for it. But the street was unfortunately empty, and the risk was too high. 

Jaehyun stood out, he looked just like the person to steal something. His clothing was old and dirty, his hair matted against his head. I was obvious, that he was a beggar. And a beggar had no means and would do something like petty theft. If the business man didn’t notice himself, someone else might have an eye on him and see, giving him away.

Sure, Jaehyun could try and run, but he was so hungry, he knew, his energy would betray him. The police department was the last place Jaehyun wanted to be at (again). So, he tailed the man as subtly as possible, hoping to get a better starting position. 

He hated stealing, but there was either this, or starve to death, and as sucky as his life currently was, he still preferred a little crime over the other option. Jaehyun had always been a happy, cheerful boy growing up, with many plans in life, dreams he wanted to fulfil. His will to live, the hope that it would eventually get better, hadn’t been broken.

The man walked into a convenience store, probably to get a fast lunch, and Jaehyun stayed outside. Stealing inside shops was too risky. Stealing small things from shops worked, if you had the right technique, but stealing from other people in shops wasn’t wise, Jaehyun had learnt the hard way. 

With how he looked these days, he was too run down, his clothing too torn for it to pass as fashion, to slip into a store and leave with something he never paid for. It was easier to stick to careless wealthy folk. They usually carried enough cash to pay for one night at a hotel and two weeks’ worth of food and drinks, sometimes more.

The man took his time, and Jaehyun observed the street, looking for an easier target. His stomach rumbled, and he shrunk into himself, trying to ease the uncomfortable ache. He never waited until it got too bad, because he figured out that didn’t help, and he’d have to betray someone for their money sooner or later. But being hungry was still uncomfortable.

 

It took him until the evening rush hour, when the streets finally were so filled and busy, Jaehyun no longer felt watched, people buzzing by in a hurry to get home. 

The purse he had gotten from that young woman was a fancy brand type. He only took the cash and put it at the entrance of a mall, leaving all cards and identification inside. His goal was to become good enough to return them immediately, so people wouldn’t worry.

When he was a child, he had seen a lot of movies in which gangsters could do that. Though, Jaehyun would prefer to earn his own money and no longer had to take it. Unfortunately, he was stuck in a wicked circle that seemed impossible to break. It wasn’t like him to give up, though. 

So, he used the money to spend the night at a hotel, wash himself, look like someone he wasn’t, so he could go jobhunting tomorrow.

A love hotel didn’t ask you questions, they didn’t need you to leave an address, that Jaehyun didn’t have, and there were no other guests around, when you got your keys.

 

Jaehyun knew the man who was on duty of the reception today. He always went to the same place, because he knew what he was going to get for his money. His regular room was taken today, but he got a similar one. 

Jaehyun made a beeline for the shower the moment he was inside. Growing up, he had learnt that you shouldn’t waste water in the shower and had cut it short, not wasting any time. However, Jaehyun thought if you only showered once a week or so, you were allowed to take your time, because you already saved the water by not showering the other six days.

Once clean and refreshed, he got the worst dirt out of his clothing and hung it over the dryer in the bathroom, so it’d be ready to wear again by morning. He’d try his best to sleep in, using the time he had on a soft mattress, but he’d probably be wide awake by no later than seven, because his body was used to it.

Jaehyun tried to sleep in neighbourhoods as good as he’d get away with, but of course, in the lights of the rich neighbourhoods, people like him were spotted easily and then taken care of by security. No one wanted a potential safety risk to sleep on the side walk of their expensive house.

So, his sleep was light, always expecting someone to challenge him for his place, for money, or for whatever they wanted to get from him. Jaehyun wasn’t the only homeless in Seoul, and he definitely wasn’t the most ruthless. He knew he was an easy target, though tall, he was skinny and not the type to throw punches. 

And he was alone. He wasn’t part of the lowest ring of a crime syndicate, he didn’t get protection from anyone.

So, he was an easy target outside, and enjoyed the nights in the safety of the hotels even more.

 

Jaehyun knew the places that had hung up job offers over the course of the last week in the parts of the city he frequented. A few were gone by now, since there were more than enough young people in need a of little money that you could earn without any qualification. But where they were still up, he asked the staff where he could apply. 

Some only took written applications, but a shop owner said he was handsome, and she could use someone to get more young, female customers to come in, so she invited him into her office at the back of the shop.

It went well, until she said, she’d want him to start as soon as possible, but he’d have to fill out the form for employees. And Jaehyun very quickly stumbled into a problem with that: home address.

“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have a home address, we can’t hire you.” The lady behind the desk had gone from smiley and accommodating to distant and slightly disgusted, the moment Jaehyun had been unable to answer her request. It had happened many times before. When he had first started this life, it had been his age, that had made any shop owner send him back outside to the street, before they could even find out he was homeless. 

Now, that he had been a legal adult for some time, it was the lack of a home that made them kick him out.

“I would try and get a flat as soon as possible, if I have an income.” Jaehyun tried, but it was obvious she had already made up her mind. 

“I’m sorry, it’s the company policy. Maybe you should check back with your parents, move in with them, then we’d be happy to have you.” Her smile was sour and didn’t reach her eyes.

Jaehyun nodded and let her lead him out of the office.

 

He sighed and turned to walk the street down. There still were some places he could check, but he felt dejected. How was he supposed to get a home, if he didn’t have money, and how was he supposed to earn money, if he needed an address to get hired? 

Anger bubbled in his chest, over the unfairness of his situation. It wasn’t like he had chosen this or enjoyed it. No, it hadn’t been his wish to be forced to drop out of high school. He had been a good student, just not good enough to get a scholarship that would have allowed him to graduate. 

He had had a plan for his life, one, that involved medical school, and then saving lives and helping people. But without even a school graduation, that was a dream very far from reality. 

But like this, people thought he was a troublemaker, a lowlife, good for nothing. And Jaehyun couldn’t prove them wrong. 

Move back in with his parents. What a joke.

 

Jaehyun wasted as much time as possible eating his kimbap in the convenience store. It was nice in here, warm, well lit. 

A woman stumbled into the register, trying to ask the cashier something, but she was slurring so much, the girl on the counter didn’t understand her, even after asking her to repeat herself twice.

Jaehyun watched carefully, not wanting anyone to catch him staring. 

He wondered, if he should maybe try and help the staff girl out, but there wasn’t anything he could so, she couldn’t. So, he stayed in his seat and the woman finally paid for her three bottles of soda and stumbled towards Jaehyun.

She fell into a chair opposite of him, and Jaehyun felt a weird tickle on his spine. One, that told him, he should probably get away from here, but he didn’t know why. It was just a drunk woman. Even he had no reason to be scared of her.

“Well, aren’t you a handsome one?” she babbled and leaned over the table, squinting, possibly to see him better. 

“Thanks?” Jaehyun put the last piece of Kimbap into his mouth. She grinned happily, and he wondered why he had this odd feeling about something being off. 

“Can you help me open this? You must be strong, right?” she shoved her bottles over the table and Jaehyun looked at them in confusion, then at her.

“Can you, Oppa? They’re hard to open!” she insisted. Was she trying to hit on him? Her approach seemed too bold to be just by chance, but too clumsy and blunt for flirting.

“Sure, let me help you.” 

The bottle opened with a fizz, and Jaehyun expectantly pushed it back to her.

“All of them!” she said, pouting a little. Her face was very pretty, Jaehyun thought as an afterthought. 

“Right. Because… you want to drink all of this right now?” he obediently opened the other two bottles as well, one nearly spilled over the table, because it must have gotten shaken before.

“Yes!” she beamed and took the bottle from his hand, knocking it back and emptying the whole 0,5 litres in one sip.

Jaehyun found himself staring in fascination. Didn’t she need to breathe?

Apparently not, because she set the empty bottle down with a content sigh and looked at him again.

“Oh! You earned a reward, Oppa! Here!” She he returned the botte he had first opened and looked at him expectantly. Jaehyun chuckled.

“You want me to drink it?”

“Yes!” she nodded happily and Jaehyun couldn’t help but do as she had asked. It felt nice to talk to someone for more than a quick ‘hello, you total is this and that, thank you’, even if she was drunk and barely able to sit.

“Alright.” He took the bottle and took a sip. It’d be dumb to turn down free drinks, though he usually avoided these overly sugary ones, because they made him crave more and were bad for his teeth that had been lacking a dentist for years now. 

Jaehyun almost shivered, when the sweetness hit him. The aftertaste was a bit odd, and he wondered, if he should really finish this, just because it was free. Was coke supposed to taste like metal? Something was off here.

The girl suddenly looked up from where she was staring at him, like someone had called her, though Jaehyun hadn’t heard anyone.

“Aw, too bad, I need to go. It was so nice with you, handsome-Oppa.” She winked at him, before stumbling out of her chair and towards the door, almost falling into a shelf. Jaehyun watched her leave with worry, but another girl took her arm, once she was outside, her friend probably, so she’d be in good hands.

Jaehyun took another sip and the more he drank, the more acceptable the taste became. Before he knew it, the whole bottle was gone. He’d just make sure to brush his teeth extra carefully later.

 

Jaehyun wasted most of the morning in the park. The sun was just strong enough to warm him gently and not burn. If he didn’t go close to any playground, no angry mothers would chase him away.

For lunch, he lingered in a cheap restaurant and the afternoon, he wandered down the streets, wondering if he could get away with trying to read a book in a store while making it look like he was willing to buy. 

Maybe, he could go to the one close to Korea University, because he knew they had the anatomy books he liked looking at. Though, they were quite stingy, because those books were extremely expensive, and they didn’t want them to have any signs of usage. It made sense, of course, but Jaehyun really liked looking at those books and trying to memorise a little.

A honk suddenly ripped Jaehyun from his thoughts. He looked up, to where it had come from, and a bold of fear struck him, like his insides suddenly were made from ice. He knew, he should run. He knew the truck was going to hit him, if he didn’t move, but the same time he thought that, he already felt the impact. 

There was a sickening crack, and then, everything went black.

 

Jaehyun woke up with a start. He needed to run, he needed to get off the street, god knew how he had gotten onto it in the first place, but he needed to get away, or he’d get hit. Jaehyun looked around, but there was no truck, there was no street, there was only quiet.

The room wasn’t lit, but it seemed bright enough for him to be able to see perfectly fine. He was on a steel table, it seemed and… were those corpses?

Jaehyun yelped, when he looked at the sheets on the other tables, under which he could see the outlines of bodies.

Where on earth was he? And how had he gotten here?

Jaehyun quickly got off the table and noticed that his feet were bare, when they hit the ground, and a small breath of coldness made him realise that he had been stripped of all his clothing, and the only thing keeping him decent had been the sheet that had fallen down, when he stood up.

What the hell?

Jaehyun quickly collected the sheet and took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts.

There had to be an explanation. 

The last thing he remembered, was the truck being so close, he couldn’t run, and then, the pain from being hit, but only for a moment.

Jaehyun patted his ribs and stomach, looking for any fractures or other signs of an impact, but there was nothing. Perhaps, it had been a dream?

Or perhaps, he had gotten hit and they thought he was dead? Could they have made a mistake? No, who made a mistake in declaring someone dead? That was ridiculous. Brain dead, maybe, but dead as in ‘put them to the morgue’?

Because the more he looked around, the more obvious it became, this place was a morgue. 

Jaehyun looked around for his clothing but didn’t find anything. He felt a bit dejected, because he had worn some of them for years now and gotten attached.

For now, the sheet had to do. He needed to find one of the doctors in charge and figure out, how he had gotten here, and why, when he was clearly still alive.

 

The door needed an extra push, but then, he was walking into the hallway, that was just as dark as the room before had been and led to a stair case.

Jaehyun took in his surroundings carefully and left the staircase on the next level. So, he was at a hospital then. That made sense, and those often had the morgue in the cellar. 

He quickly slipped into the closest room, trying to find something more appropriate to wear. There were two beds, both habitants fast asleep, breathing regularly, their heartbeats lowered. Jaehyun wondered how he could hear that, but the thought got quickly dismissed, when he noticed that one of them had left his clothing on the chair next to his bed, and he quickly wiggled into it, not caring that it was used, though he skipped the underwear, thank you.

This was much better. Now, he only needed to find someone responsible and ask, why he had been put in the morgue.

They’d probably want some personal information from him or inform his parents. 

The sudden thought immediately made his mouth go dry. No. They probably didn’t have his name, since he didn’t carry an ID, so, if he just left, no one would know where to find him, they wouldn’t even know who to look for.

Jaehyun followed the signs under the ceiling towards the exit. Since he was feeling very alive, he could do without an explanation as to why he had woken in the cellar, if it mean his parents would stay out of this.

“Excuse me, where are you going, young man? Which unit are you from? Let me see your bracelet.” Jaehyun turned, to see a nurse wave her clipboard at him. 

He figured it’d be better to answer her, maybe tell her he was family, though they probably weren’t allowed to visit in the middle of the night.

The woman seemed experienced in keeping patients from doing dumb shit and was by his side quickly.

“I was just leaving from… visiting.” Jaehyun tried, but she already took his wrist and stared at the black plastic band wrapped around it. Jaehyun hadn’t even noticed it was there until just now. Too bad.

“How is this back, what idiot mixed that up, black’s for deceased. Seriously. There’s no name on here, too. I’ll have to check your patient number, we cannot have you running around the city at night, you understand that, right? Which is your room? I’ll come back with you.”

She looked at him expectantly, and Jaehyun tried to think of an excuse.

“This isn’t actually a hospital bracelet. That’s why it’s black and there’s no name. Since… I’m alive.” Jaehyun stuttered, looking at her, so she would suspect he was lying. People were more likely to believe you, if you held eye contact.

“You’re right. This isn’t actually a hospital bracelet.” She slowly repeated. Wow, that had worked? 

“So, I’m just going to go now. Thank you for your hard work, nurse Choi.” Jaehyun added his best smile.

“Yes, you are just going to go now.” She nodded slowly, almost hypnotically, and let go of his wrist slowly. Odd.

But Jaehyun wasn’t going to question her and give away his chance to escape, so, he quickly took the last steps and was outside, in the chilly Seoul early autumn night. He regretted not getting a jacket, but he didn’t want to go back and risk running into someone who wanted him to stay again.

He slipped into the night, like he had so many times before. 

Maybe, if he returned to the intersection he remembered, he could figure out what had happened. His memories were too odd and didn’t fit the situation at hand at all. There had to a be an explanation, though.

They seemed to have brought him to the closest hospital, so he didn’t have to walk very far to find where he remembered getting hit.

Jaehyun crossed the street several times, with checking for passing traffic carefully beforehand, of course, but there was nothing suspicious on the asphalt, no splattered blood, or crushed plastic, nothing. This didn’t mean nothing had happened here, it only meant that the cleaning up had been done properly. 

Accidents happened all the time in Seoul, especially on the bigger streets, but the signs never lingered. 

But for Jaehyun, it was unfortunate. He wouldn’t figure anything out from a clean intersection.

There were a few cars, and Jaehyun wondered, what time it was. Seoul never really slept, but the nights were quieter than the days by a lot. Maybe, he should get something to drink and check the time in the convenience store.

He stumbled into the closest store and checked the clock behind the cash counter. According to this, it was 3:30 am and Jaehyun should probably find a place to sleep, but he wasn’t tired, after just waking up a few minutes before.

Instead, he picked up a bottle of water. Should he get a snack? But he didn’t really feel like eating anything. He just went to pay, but the moment the boy behind the counter scanned the bottle and Jaehyun reached into the pocket of his stolen jeans, he realised the money he had taken this week was not in these pants.

He panicked, getting nervous and embarrassed, because he wouldn’t be able to pay for this. It was one of the unpretty things about homelessness, Jaehyun really hated.

“I think I’m just short on cash, since you can’t just give me the drink for free, sorry.” Jaehyun stuttered.

“Yeah, sure I can give you the drink for free.” The boy nodded. Jaehyun hesitated. 

“Really?”

“Yes, of course. Please take the drink.” The boy pushed the bottle over the counter and Jaehyun carefully took it. What was going on?

“Thank you.” He bowed quickly, and left, still confused.

 

Jaehyun wasn’t tired enough to sleep again, so he just wasted the time, watching people drunk beyond reasoning. 

He finished his water and carelessly threw the bottle into a trash can close by. It rattled loudly and Jaehyun startled. He had just carelessly tossed it, but it sounded like he that chucked it with as much force as he could utter. 

He took a deep breath and waited for his heart rate to go back down. But he still felt agitated after a few deep breaths. Jaehyun rubbed his neck and halted.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a pulse there?

He patted along his neck, searching for the familiar beating of his heart, but it was nowhere to be found.

Frowning, he put a hand on his chest. Silence.

Wait, that made sense, how he had gotten to the morgue, gotten away from the hospital and gotten the drink for free: he was dreaming.

 

His dream was very realistic, Jaehyun thought, when the sun rose, and he was still wandering through Seoul without a pulse. School kids were rolling down the streets, headed towards their schools, business men and women going to work. Just a regular morning, no weirdness to notice.

Jaehyun had gone to a café and gotten a milkshake, because he still didn’t feel like eating anything solid, but was thirsty, and he had gotten it for free again. Jaehyun was a bit tempted to see how far he could get in this dream, what people would be willing to give, but he still felt like he was scamming someone, so he stuck to cheap drinks.

Jaehyun didn’t shrink into the houses on the side of the alley he was walking down, when he saw the four guys who were in charge of this backstreet. Since this was a funny dream, he’d surely get out of this trouble, too.

“Yo! Faggot! We told you to stay away, fucker!” 

“Yes, I know.” Jaehyun rolled his eyes, still feeling safe, so far away from the bullies, however, they were not stopping. Jaehyun hadn’t figured out how exactly he got away from situations, he’d have to improvise as he went.

“So, how come you’re here again? You have some money for me?” the leader of the quartet boomed. 

“No, I don’t. I just want to walk down this street, because it’s a shortcut.” Jaehyun explained, looking back at him.

“Right. Okay. You just want to go down this street.” He nodded slowly. The motion was familiar, all people did it, before doing just what Jaehyun wanted.

Jaehyun wanted to push past them, and their leader moved out of the way, but the other three didn’t.

“Hey fucker, you know the rules, our street costs.”

“Pay up or pay for it.”

“I said I was just passing.” Jaehyun repeated, glaring at him a little and he saw the nodding starting, but a punch hit him in the side, and Jaehyun groaned, stumbling, but the man grabbed his arm in a bruising grab.

He hated getting beaten up, because even in years of getting into trouble on a regular basis, he was an unskilled fighter.

He shoved the guy holding his arm, and he stumbled back, letting go of him. Jaehyun hesitated for a moment, confused. The four of them were huge, muscle and anger combined to a terrible mix that was topped off with the entitlement of a gang backing them, even though they actually just took most of the money the bullies took from people, like Jaehyun or girls looking for customers.

And Jaehyun was just a skinny guy.

“Asshole, who do you think you are?” another one yelled and kicked his legs from behind, making Jaehyun stumble forwards, into the still motionless guy he had spoken to. He didn’t stop Jaehyun from holding onto his fake leather jacket to avoid the fall, and Jaehyun figured this was just another part of his weird dream.

The next punch, he saw coming, and he blocked by thrusting his hand out. When their bodies connected, there was a crunch, the other guy groaned and got pushed back by the force of the impact, holding his hand with a whine.

Jaehyun had felt the power behind the punch but was able to comfortably keep his balance.

“What’s up with you, freak?” the guy asked, clutching his hand. 

“Well, since this is my dream, I can just do what I want.” Jaehyun answered triumphantly.

“What the fuck are you talking about? This isn’t a dream, are you high?” the kicking guy asked and grabbed him by his collar.

Jaehyun didn’t bother answering, just kneed him in his balls and took a few big steps backwards the second he got dropped.

“Boss, aren’t you going to do anything?” the one still clutching his hand.

“No. He is just using this street as a short cut.” Their boss answered mechanically and Jaehyun used the distraction to get away.

His waist hurt a bit, from where he had gotten punched. Weren’t you supposed not to hurt in a dream? Jaehyun wondered, rubbing the sore skin through the shirt.

 

He went to sleep on a nice, dry spot hidden away in a corner of a vacant store, that he liked using and expected to wake up from his dream. Maybe to the actual aftermath of the accident he had been in, maybe just a normal day, but when he stirred awake, he still didn’t have a pulse and was still in the store.

It was starting to get a bit odd, but your perception of time changed when you slept, didn’t it? However, he tried pinching himself, and it hurt, which didn’t fit the dream-scenario. Still, he didn’t really have a better explanation, so he stuck to thinking he was dreaming and continued his day, still not craving any food, but only drinks, wandering through Seoul.

 

When Jaehyun woke up without a pulse for the second time, he started wondering, if he got stuck in his dream, or maybe, for some reason, he actually no longer had a pulse, nor an appetite.

Only, that had did feel a bit hungry today, so there was another crack in his dream.

Jaehyun wandered down the streets, wondering what other explanation for surviving a car crash without a single scratch and then lacking his pulse were.

Maybe, he was a zombie? 

He didn’t feel very zombie-ish, though. He didn’t crave brain, and his body wasn’t falling apart either. Jaehyun pinched his arm again, while he looked at rice balls, trying to choose. It still hurt. A Zombie wouldn’t hurt, right? He didn’t really crave any of the fillings, so he just went with a vegetable one.

The girl at the register did the same slow nod and he moved to the table close to the door, and started munching sluggishly. The flavours didn’t sit right on his tongue, he ended up forcing the whole thing down and still feeling hungry, but a little sick, too.

No, wait, really sick!

Jaehyun barely made it to the convenience store’s restroom and threw up in the toilet.

Well.

He surely wouldn’t have to do that in a dream.

Jaehyun tried to rinse his mouth and brushed his teeth, but the sour aftertaste lingered. His mood was pretty ruined, because he was still hungry, but also felt a bit sick and apparently couldn’t keep anything down.

The sun was annoying him, and his body felt sore. Jaehyun nursed a simple water, slumped in the backyard of a club, trying to get away from everything that seemed to irritate him to no end today. 

Everything seemed to be a bit much today, because of the mixture of hunger and nausea. Jaehyun just wanted it gone, but he didn’t know how, so he just napped in the back of the house and waited for time to pass, hoping that it’d get better on its own.  
Eventually, the music started blasting from the club and Jaehyun found himself even more annoyed, but also too lazy to move anywhere else. If he wanted to really get away, he would have to walk far, because he was right in the party area. 

He started to feel really hungry, a level of hunger he usually didn’t let himself get to, but he had already tried taking care of it and he didn’t want to throw up again, so he just didn’t know what to do. 

With how gross he felt now, he had very little hope left that this was a dream, but it was a reality that confused Jaehyun greatly.

Jaehyun grumbled and curled into himself some more, when someone stopped in front of him and crouched down. His hair was bleached to a caramel colour, parted in the middle, which worked very well with his soft face.

Jaehyun looked up, frowning and ready to tell the person to please get lost, but something about the guy was off.

Jaehyun tried to pinpoint it but couldn’t.

The man smiled at him, with a hint of worry, which was a bit unfitting, because he was dressed to the tens. Jaehyun may live on the street, but he didn’t live under a rock.

“Hey there, you don’t look so good.” Jaehyun sunk further into himself. It wasn’t a surprise that he probably looked like shit. He certainly felt like it. The stranger seemed actually concerned, though, but didn’t corner him in a way that would make him feel pushed.

“When was the last time you fed?” the handsome stranger asked. Jaehyun raised an eyebrow at his choice of words, but then what was wrong with him hit him: the other didn’t have a heartbeat. Recently, Jaehyun had always heard other people’s pulses, but this man didn’t have one. Like him.

“You don’t have a heartbeat!” Jaehyun whispered, looking around to make sure no one overheard. 

The other’s eyebrows slowly rose on his forehead. Jaehyun felt like he had asked something very dumb, but to him, it was a concern.

“Um… no. You did realise you don’t have one, either, have you?” the stranger asked carefully, like he was trying not to spook him. Jaehyun appreciated the effort.

“Yeah, that’s kind of weird. Hey, do you know why? I mean, am I dreaming? It doesn’t feel like a dream, but…” Jaehyun carefully asked. It was an odd question to ask a perfect stranger, but Jaehyun was worked up by his hunger, and if there was a chance he could help, Jaehyun didn’t want to let the chance go.

“No, you’re not dreaming. I can explain you everything, but I’d rather not do this on the street. Just a quick question: did something happen to you recently, something potentially deadly, after which you woke up about 12 hours later?”

Jaehyun nodded slowly, because that was exactly what had happened. It was ever so slightly concerning and reassuring at the same time, that the stranger seemed to know this.

“When was that?”

“Three days ago.”

“That’s what I thought, alright, then we’re at a good point right now. I’ll get you caught up on what has happened to you, if you want to. Let’s go to my home, alright? What’s your name? I’m Qian Kun.”

“Jaehyun.”

 

Growing up, Jaehyun had been taught to not go home with strangers, especially during the time he lived in the US and his protective parents were even more protective of him. 

However, there was something to Kun that made Jaehyun immediately want to trust him with his life. Maybe, it was the desperation of feeling so wrong for the whole day and Kun actually being the first promise to find out what was going on. So, he did the least reasonable thing, and followed him through the neighbourhood on wobbly legs.

“So, Jaehyun, how old are you?” Kun asked casually.

“I’m 22 this year.”

“Korean age?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry, are you a foreigner? You don’t speak with any accent.” Jaehyun had perked up at the name and then immediately forgotten about it again, because there were much more pressing matters at hand.

“Thanks. I’ve lived in Seoul for some time now. But yes, originally, I’m from Fujian in China.” Kun confirmed “That’s why I’m always a bit confused with age measuring.”

“I get that. I lived in the US for four years, they don’t add a year, either. Are you older then?” Jaehyun inquired.

“A bit.” Kun chuckled.

It was comfortable talking to him and took his mind off the hunger that kept stirring in his stomach.

They eventually arrived at one of the newer, high rise living blocks, and Kun opened the door, gesturing for Jaehyun to go in first. They took the lift to the seventh floor. Jaehyun kept glancing around a bit uncomfortably. It had been a while, since he had been inside a house, years, actually. He kept expecting security to jump out and kick him back to the street.

Nothing of the likes happened, and Kun lead him to a nice, big flat.

The Chinese wordlessly set down two glasses of water, and Jaehyun kept glancing around, not wanting to stare at the décor, but also curious. 

“Alright, let’s talk a bit, shall we?” Kun smiled “Can you tell me, what you recall happened before his woke up without your pulse?”

“I think I got hit by a truck, and then I woke up in a morgue, which was very disturbing. I don’t know. Nothing makes sense. Also, I’m really hungry, but I can’t keep anything down, which sucks.” Jaehyun rubbed his face.

Kun clucked his tongue and shook his head, but Jaehyun knew it wasn’t directed at him from how he was looked at the ceiling.

“The easy answer to this is: The accident you were in did kill you, that’s why they put you in the morgue.”

Jaehyun wanted to laugh and say that was ridiculous, but he didn’t have a heartbeat, and a similar idea had started to take hold in his head, so, it just made sense.

“But before you died, someone has given you their blood. A vampire did, to be precise, which is why you didn’t stay dead, but got turned into a vampire as well, waking up again after some hours.”

A vampire.

Jaehyun barked out a laugh.

“Like Dracula? Sure.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Yes, a bit like Dracula, just not as ridiculous. Do you want proof?”

“Do you have proof?” Jaehyun challenged. Kun’s eyes suddenly turned from dark brow to blood red and he opened his mouth to reveal a set of elongated fangs.

Jaehyun jerked back in his chair with wide eyes.

“There.” Kun’s face returned to normal. “Believe me now?”

“Holy shit.” Jaehyun muttered but nodded. It all made sense in a very confusing, unsettling way. 

“I know it’s probably a shock. Normally, turning someone and then leaving them to their own devices is illegal, however, I don’t think the person planned to actually change you, it was just bad luck. I’m sorry you went off to such a rough start.”

“Illegal? Are there vampire laws?” Was there a vampire society right under his nose? Did people know about this? No. He had never heard of this before and he kept in touch with the news, newspapers were laid out everywhere and if someone found out vampires existed, that would make the headlines, wouldn’t it?

“Sort of. We need to make sure we stay under the radars. There’s a police unit dedicated to hunting us down and people generally get concerned at some point, if you don’t age.”

“Don’t age?” Jaehyun repeated, like a parrot.

“Yes, you won’t age. Eternal life, all that fun. There’s only a few things that will kill you and keep you dead: wooden stake to the heart, decapitation, but most things, you will regenerate from.”

“But I was able to walk in the sun! And I didn’t feel the need to rip people apart and drink their blood.” Jaehyun flailed.

Kun shook his head, keeping as calm as he had been from the beginning.

“The sun, garlic, crosses, thresholds, all that stuff are just myths. And you’re a vampire, but you’re still a person. However, you noticed you can’t keep food down, but are hungry? That’s your body starting to demand blood. If you wait for too long, you will eventually crave blood so badly, you can turn into a mindless killer, we call it a blood frenzy. But that’s a survival instinct.”

Jaehyun wondered if maybe, this still was a dream. But when he pinched himself, it hurt again. 

“So, I have to drink blood?” Jaehyun whispered in a slight panic.

“Yes. There’s no way around this, unless you kill yourself.” Kun nodded. Jaehyun shook his head. No! He hadn’t lived for years on the streets, never giving up, just to end it now!

“Good. You need someone to mentor you. I will have to check back with my coven, but I would like to offer you guidance, if you’re willing to accept. We can’t just add you to the coven, of course, but we could figure the details out as we go.”

Jaehyun nodded so much, he got a bit dizzy. He definitely wanted all the help he could get.

“Wait, coven?”

“Yes, there’s three others. Most of us have a coven. Eternity can get very lonely.”

That made sense. Just how many vampires had Jaehyun walked past his life, without having a clue?

“Before I can let you go to sleep for the night, though, we have to get the feeding part done first. It’s too risky for you to get any hungrier than you already are.” Kun said and got up.

Jaehyun followed, like a well-trained dog. The house was nice, but of course, he hadn’t expected to stay here. Still, being reminded of how it was to actually be inside a flat had been nice.

“We usually find us someone in a party district. You need to make any human you feed from forget what you did, and that works easiest with someone who is drunk and likely to black out from that. They won’t get suspicious and won’t draw attention. It’s all about laying low.” Kun explained, as they made their way back to where they had originally come from. 

“How do I make them forget, though?” Jaehyun asked. He knew about party drugs and the likes, but he’d rather not get involved with any of that.

“It’s called bewitchment. You get into their mind and tell them what to do. It’s very easy.”

Tell them what to do? Jaehyun had a sudden flashback to many situations of the past days, during which he had told people what to do, and they had happily complied.

“Um. If it’s very easy. Could it be that I did it accidentally?” Jaehyun asked warily. He felt a bit dumb, again, but he honestly didn’t know.

“Yeah, you could have. Do you think you did?” Kun turned to look at him curiously.

“Maybe, I think I did, because that sounds familiar. I just asked people to do things, or give me things, and they did?” Jaehyun asked. Kun seemed genuinely interested and didn’t make him feel like he was asking dumb question. 

“Then, you probably did. Like I said, it’s really easy. The key is holding eye contact.” Kun smiled. 

They squeezed through a line in front of a club and Jaehyun’s stomach started annoying him again, a feeling of cold nervousness started creeping up on him, now that he knew where it was coming from. 

What was he even doing? He was going to drink blood? Jaehyun freaked out a little, while Kun got them past the bouncer.

“Let’s get going, Jaehyun.” Kun reminded and snapped him out of his train of thoughts.

Jaehyun had never been in a club before. It was something he saw no use in, so why waste money on it? And before, when he still got money from his parents, he was too young. 

The music was deafening, and the bass was so low, it felt like his body was vibrating. Combined with the hunger, it was getting really uncomfortable.

There were too many people, rubbing shoulders and swaying to the music. It was almost claustrophobic, and Jaehyun hoped Kun would get whatever he wanted to do fast, so they could leave again.

He held onto Kun, so he wouldn’t get separated and let him drag him further into the club.

Kun seemed to have a very specific goal in mind, and they stopped behind a short man that Kun shook on the shoulder. He turned around with a roll of his eyes, not letting go of the person he was dancing with and Jaehyun’s eyes widened, when he saw it was another man.

He glanced between the two, who were definitely grinding against his other, even when Kun and him were right here, but no one seemed to care.

“Ten, I found a stray. You have to take babysitting, sorry.”

Stray? Well, he sort of was, wasn’t he? Babysitting, though? Whom? Jaehyun hadn’t seen any children at Kun’s flat. Wait. Could vampires have children? This was confusing. Was this person a vampire, too? Maybe he wasn’t? Who knew, it was much too loud to hear a heartbeat in here.

“This one him?” The short one scanned Jaehyun up and down with poorly concealed curiosity.

“Yes. We’re talking later, or tomorrow. Don’t leave Yuta behind, just because he’s annoying you, okay?”

Jaehyun didn’t know who Yuta was, but from the short one’s grin, there was a history there.

“I never did that. Get Adonis some fresh meat, we don’t want to lose him to the girls, do we?”

“You’re impossible.” Kun huffed, and then dragged Jaehyun on. The guy he had talked to turned back to the man he was sexing up and Jaehyun quickly looked away.

“Alright, we’re picking someone who won’t be immediately missed and is well past tipsy.” Kun explained over the blasting music. Jaehyun couldn’t do anything but agree. He had no idea what he was doing, and frankly, it was a bit scary.

Kun seemed to know what he was doing, though, as he scanned the dance floor with expert eyes, changing directions ever so often. Jaehyun tried to see what he was looking for. His eyes caught on a person dancing on the pedestal on which the DJ sat, heating the crowd up.

His hair was a very light colour and the colourful lighting reflected on it. He was too far away from Jaehyun to see his face, but his aura was captivating. And his movements. It was like the music was his heart beat and he just moved naturally to it, in perfect control of his limbs. When he changed to a more sensual hip movement, Jaehyun got a weird tug in his stomach, but he couldn’t look away. 

He was beautiful, Jaehyun decided, without even having seen him up close, just based on his dancing and aura.

Kun’s voice ripped him from his stupor and focussed back on the other vampire.

“We’re taking him.” Kun nodded towards a guy leaning against the wall and staring the same direction Jaehyun had seconds ago.

“Ah – okay. Um… what do I do?” Jaehyun warily asked.

“Just observe, for now.” Kun said and Jaehyun nodded, continuing to follow the other.

Kun marched towards the guy with wide strides, full of confidence. Jaehyun found himself stumbling behind him, like a baby deer following their graceful mother.

“Hi there. Are you here alone?” Kun asked in a louder voice than before, clearly heard over the music.

Jaehyun hesitated. Wasn’t that a pick-up line? 

As Kun talked to the stranger, it became apparent that he was, indeed, picking him up. Jaehyun was at a loss of words. He had never experienced anything like this, but maybe he had missed it by living on the streets. 

He wasn’t given the time to mull over the fact that there were men flirting with men all around him, when he had been raised to it being shunned, because Kun was heading outside, the man following a bit wobbly. 

They disappeared in a side street, and the man just stood there, still, almost like a mannequin. It was a bit creepy, but Jaehyun was already spooked so much by the idea, that he’d have to drink his blood, a bit more or less creepiness didn’t make a difference.

“What do I do?” Jaehyun whispered. Nausea was building up in his guts again.

“Keep calm, Jaehyun, it’s not that hard and you’ll feel a lot better afterwards.” Kun soothed. Jaehyun tried, but the breath he took didn’t really give him the relief he was used to.

“Say, Kun, do I need to breathe? Because I recently felt like I don’t.”

“No, you don’t.” Kun shook his head. Jaehyun nodded and took another deep breath. It didn’t really help.

“Alright, can we get this over with?” 

“Yes. You want to go for the wrist, because that is much less noticeable than the neck. The bite heals over quickly, but the bruising will stay. Unless there was a good reason for a hickey, go for the wrist.” Jaehyun felt his stomach drop. Kun seemed so relaxed about the idea of giving a guy a hickey, it almost freaked him out, and made him very curious at the same time.

“Take his arm and feel for the pulse.” Kun told him, and Jaehyun did just that. The man was still staying still, probably not noticing anything that was happening around him.

It was easy to find the perfect place and a surge of hunger rushed through Jaehyun, almost painful. His mouth felt dry and too full, and when he swallowed, he realised his teeth felt different. He looked at Kun in panic, while tracing the outline of fangs in his upper jaw with his tongue.

“Good, that’s what I was going for. Eventually, you’ll be able to get a bit of control over the red eyes and fangs situation, but for now, we’ll rely on instincts. Now, bite down where you feel the pulse the strongest.”

“What? Just like that? But how much do I take?” Jaehyun asked, panic and nausea increasing, he was so hungry now, and his body was screaming for him to finally do something, the solution right in front of him.

“Yes, just like that. Don’t worry, you don’t need much to feel full, you’ll know when to stop.” Kun smiled knowingly.

Jaehyun mustered the wrist, how the veins were raised a bit, skin stretching over them thinly. And before thinking any more, he just bit down.

There wasn’t a lot of blood oozing from the wound, and the taste was strange on his tongue, but he longed for more immediately and started sucking on the wrist to get more.

After a few gulps, he started to feel full, like he had eaten a whole 7 course meal. Jaehyun let the arm drop from his mouth, but blood kept oozing out. 

“Lick the wound, so it stops.” Kun instructed and Jaehyun almost didn’t manage to swallow the last drops, feeling like he was going to burst from how full he was.

“Good. How do you feel?” Kun asked, checking the man’s wrist.

The feeling of nausea and annoyance from the hunger were gone, replaced by the content sleepiness of eating a lot.

“Better?” Jaehyun tried.

“Are you not sure?” Kun chuckled and Jaehyun shook his head.

“No, I definitely feel better. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s get him back inside, and then you need to excuse me for a moment, because I need to get my dinner, too.” Kun smiled prettily, not looking like someone who ate strangers for dinner.

Jaehyun nodded, still a bit overwhelmed. 

The club felt less claustrophobic now, and Kun told him to stay exactly where he was and from the look in his eyes, Jaehyun knew it was better to really take these words literally. His eyes travelled over the crowd, curious what people were doing.

There were some people making out right on the dance floor, drunk beyond caring, and Jaehyun felt flustered and quickly looked elsewhere. The DJ stand was farther away from where he was standing, but the light-haired guy was still dancing and Jaehyun found himself staring from afar. 

Every move he did had power behind it, executed to perfection. He drew Jaehyun in, and then seemed to play with him, without even knowing he was there. He wondered, how someone could feel the music like the dancer was, matching every move to the beat. Jaehyun knew, he could watch him for hours, if you let him.

Kun patted his arm and ripped him from his silent admiration.

“Don’t get too hung up on an image, Jaehyun.” Kun said, with a knowing look in his eyes.

Jaehyun felt embarrassed for being caught staring like a creep, but Kun didn’t comment and turned to leave, and Jaehyun threw a last glance at the dancer, before following.

 

His thoughts kept lingering on the unknown man, while they walked down the dark streets. Jaehyun didn’t know this area too well, since he usually avoided the ones that were busy at night.

“You usually have to feed every three days or so. If you lose blood, you obviously need to replenish earlier. You should never go hungry, because as I mentioned before, it can trigger a blood frenzy. Not only are those awful, but a vampire found on one will be executed by the peacekeepers of Seoul.” Kun explained and Jaehyun nodded.

Execution was something that sounded straight out of a movie, a distant concept. Having it as a real threat was intimidating. Jaehyun wondered how many rules there were that he’d have to follow, and if he already fucked up.

“Who keeps the peace? Are there more rules?”

“The peace is kept by Taeyeon and her coven. They’re all very old and have lived here for long, shaping the community. They keep track of all the vampires and other supernatural beings in the city.” 

“What? There’s more than vampires?” Jaehyun hissed.

“Yes, there’s werewolves, too. Apart from making sure every vampire is well versed in their abilities and how to keep themselves fed, so they don’t become a risk to the general public, they are the ones giving the permission to turn new vampires. If you go against them, they’ll come for you. What they do is up to them. In your case, we need to inform them of your existence as soon as possible, and they will likely try to find out who turned you.”

Jaehyun nodded slowly. It made sense, even sounded like a good institution to have.

“Apart from that, we also have hunters, as I mentioned before. They’re quite clueless generally, but if they have confirmation you are a vampire, they become a real threat. Their fighting skills are exquisite. The most important part is, to never be found out by them, then they aren’t a concern. So, always check the area before using any of your powers, so no one else will notice you’re using them, and make sure no one sees you drink.”

That sounded like a good idea, not letting people find out. 

“Good. Then, we have it all set. Now, how about you? You didn’t look in good shape back there. Are your parents missing you? Friends? School?”

Jaehyun swallowed awkwardly.

“Um. No? They won’t miss me, actually, I kind of live on the street, so, no one misses me.”

Kun frowned and gave him a quick once over.

“In that case, I would really want you to stay with me for tonight. We’ll figure something out tomorrow, something permanent, I hope. Will you accept that offer?”

Jaehyun blinked and then nodded furiously. He definitely wouldn’t pass the chance to sleep indoors, much less in an actual house, not a hotel room. And it felt good to have someone take care of him.

“Good.” Kun smiled warmly and Jaehyun wondered if this whole mess maybe held the potential to finally turn his life around.

 

Kun left him in the bathroom, along with a set of borrowed pyjamas. Jaehyun was happy to peel off the days old, dirty clothing and put it in the hamper, like Kun had told him to, feeling a little guilty to shamelessly use all of his hospitality. But dirty clothing was something he had never gotten used to.

The warm water on his skin felt heavenly. He had never appreciated getting clean as much, as he did since losing his home. Now, every shower was a small party for him.

But something was off. Jaehyun was used to his body being very bony and didn’t spend much time looking at himself in the mirror, however, there was subtle muscle stretching over his torso now, and his rips were embedded into flesh, instead of being right there under his skin.

Jaehyun started checking out his body with honest wonder. He felt like he had, when he had still lived at home, going to school, eating well and doing sports on a regular basis.

He simply accounted it to the vampire change, since there were so many other things it brought, it was probably that, there was no other reason Jaehyun could think of.

 

Jaehyun’s light sleep was disturbed the next morning, when someone tried to sneak into the living room, where he was lying on the pulled-out sofa.

He jerked up and looked at the intruder. 

He recognised him as the short guy from yesterday, the one who had to take babysitting duty. Which Jaehyun still had no idea what that was.

He was in oversized floppy clothing, all black, like his hair and looked at Jaehyun with big eyes.

“Woops, sorry, I thought I could get past you without waking you up. Guess not.” 

“Oh, no problem. I’m a light sleeper.” Jaehyun rasped. He rubbed his face and started getting up.

“Don’t let me bother you.” 

“No, I won’t be able to go back to sleep.” Jaehyun shook his head.

“Then I’m really sorry for waking you up. I’m Ten, by the way. That’s a nickname, but you may only call me Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, if you don’t fuck the pronunciation up. Nice to meet you. Do you want something to drink?”

Jaehyun nodded, a little disoriented from sleep, and followed Ten to the kitchen, standing around awkwardly.

“Sit down, sit down, do you like water or sprite? Or tea, maybe?” Ten asked, rummaging through the fridge. If Jaehyun considered his name and accent, he guessed he was Thai.

“Water?” Jaehyun muttered.

“Is that a question?” Ten teased and Jaehyun wrinkled his nose.

“Water, please.” Jaehyun repeated. Kun had made him rephrase himself yesterday, too.

“That’s better, confidence, it’s key, Jaehyunnie. There you go.” Ten pushed a glass of water over the table Jaehyun was sitting on.

Jaehyun usually didn’t start the morning with lessons on confidence, but it felt sort of nice, like someone was taking care of him.

“So, when did you get turned?” Ten asked, flopping down on the chair opposite of Jaehyun, sipping his soda loudly.

“I think four days ago?” Jaehyun replied carefully.

“Aw, a baby then. Our Kun-Mom has a radar for handsome baby vampires.” Ten chuckled. “Though, I think you need to get your hair cut, or is this a statement style?” 

Jaehyun sputtered to reply. It had been a while since someone had called him handsome. Pretty, sure, to mock him, but handsome?

“I don’t think so? I didn’t really have the money.” Jaehyun admitted.

“Ah, that’s fine. We’ll take care of that.” Ten nodded earnestly. There was no mocking, nor pity in his voice and he leaned over the table and started combing his fingers through Jaehyun’s hair, bringing the long strands down to their full length. 

Jaehyun was first to admit, that it wasn’t a good look. The fringe was almost at chin lengths, and he usually pulled it back to a bun to make it somewhat acceptable. Ten wrinkled his nose in distaste and started pushing hair around.

“I think the colour is alright, though you could go a bit lighter, brown? But we definitely need to chop this off, you look like those hippies from the 60s, that’s not a look we want to bring back. It was terrible times, I’m telling you.” Ten started analysing.

“Were you… Were you around for that?” Jaehyun asked, while relaxing under Ten’s ministrations. 

Ten huffed out a laugh.

“I definitely was. I’m over 300 years old, Jaehyunnie.” Ten smiled and Jaehyun gasped.

“What? You’re, like…” Ten’s smile became a bit frozen and Jaehyun thought it might not be a good idea to use any word that would describe how ancient he seemed. “Really experienced.”

“Nice save. Kun’s older than me, though.” 

“What, really?” Jaehyun gasped.

“The perks of immortality. I mean, since Kun already adopted you, he’s probably going to pledge for you to join us. Do you want to join a coven? Wait, you understand the concept, right? If I talk about something you don’t understand, ask me, right?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Sort of? Well, it’s really easy, it’s like a chosen family. There’s currently four of us, and you know, we fight, but ultimately, we really care for each other. Especially Yuta, he’s the biggest nuisance there is, but I love him. Don’t tell him that.” 

Jaehyun remembered the name Yuta being dropped yesterday, and Kun specifically telling Ten not to leave him behind.

“There’s me, Kun, Yuta and Taeyong currently. Originally, it was just Kun, Yuta and me, Taeyong’s our first rescue case.” Ten chuckled. “I mean, we wouldn’t rip you from your actual family, not yet, anyway. But if you have to leave them in like five years or so, when it becomes apparent that you don’t age, you could probably join us, I don’t think anyone will oppose the idea. Sure, we don’t know each other, but if the initial sympathy is there, everything else usually comes naturally.”

Jaehyun felt oddly moved by the compassion. First Kun had helped him like it was a matter of course, and now Ten comfortably added him to a chosen family without even knowing him.

“I – um – that’s actually really nice. And I don’t have a family right now, so, if it was possible, I would like to stay with you.”

Ten furrowed his brows.

“Like I said, I don’t think anyone is going to oppose, but what do you mean, you don’t have a family?” 

“Ah… I mean, I do technically have one, but they kicked me out a few years ago. I already told Kun. I’m pretty much homeless and have been for three years now.” Jaehyun explained awkwardly. Ten’s eyes widened, then his face turned dark.

“Why would they do that? You lived on the streets? And they did that to you?” Ten asked, the anger clear in his voice. No one had ever really cared what was going on in his life, much less if someone else but him was to blame for what was going on.

“Uh, yeah, well they made it very clear they didn’t want to see my face ever again.” Jaehyun confirmed. It was a bit regrettable, but he had turned his disappointment into anger, then hate, and finally indifference. 

“That’s plain awful.”

“It’s not nice, but I’m over it, I don’t want to waste my time thinking about them anymore.” Jaehyun explained. 

“That’s very mature. I don’t think I could stop being salty about something this major, like basically ruining your life. What could possibly be bad enough to justify sending your own child into homelessness?” Ten snorted.

It was a very major reason. One, that made people generally understand his parents’ decision, because they would have done the same, or would have wanted to. And it was nothing Jaehyun usually shared, because others didn’t understand and attacked him for it. 

“It was… pretty big. I guess it’s understandable.” Ten snorted, but Jaehyun wanted to figure something else out first.

“I was just wondering, and this is really unrelated, but you were dancing with a guy yesterday, is that a coven member, or – um – why were you dancing with a man?” Jaehyun asked, stumbling a bit over his words. He didn’t have a degree, but he wasn’t dumb. And he needed information on this!

“No, that was my fuck for the night. Or it was supposed to be, because I ended up coming home after feeding.” Ten sighed deeply, the regret in his eyes, before focussing on Jaehyun and raising an eyebrow at his dumb folded expression.

“Ah, I see the question in your eyes: I’m gay. If that wasn’t obvious already. Actually, there’s not a single straight in the coven, Kun seems straight, but he swings both ways. You’ll feel right at home with us, don’t worry.” Ten patted his arm and Jaehyun’s jaw slowly dropped. 

Was he implying, what it sounded he was implying? 

“What?” Jaehyun asked breathily. 

“You like guys, don’t you? I have a sense for that, I’ve never been wrong before.” Ten raised an eyebrow and Jaehyun shook his head silently. “Don’t worry. This is a safe space.” 

“I… how did you know that, I never told anyone, no. I don’t ever tell anyone anymore.” Jaehyun hissed. He felt his stomach tightening and a cold feeling run down his back. He didn’t even know why, because Ten had just said he was gay as well and so were the rest of the coven, save for Kun.

Jaehyun had been called gay a lot on the streets, as well as a lot less nice words, but it was just a meaningless accusation by people, who used it as an insult, didn’t put any thought into it and didn’t really think he actually was.

This was different. Ten wasn’t wrong, but it brought a very bad feeling.

Ten wordlessly took his hand and started massaging it randomly. 

“Try breathing a little, Jaehyunnie. I have a sense for this, it doesn’t mean anyone will be able to tell and I’m not going to tell anyone, if you aren’t comfortable with others knowing. Like I said, this is a safe space, no one will hurt you here, and if they try to, they can face my wrath. And Kun’s, which is probably a bit more effective, because he knows martial arts.”

Jaehyun found himself chuckling at that. Neither Ten, nor Kun looked very threatening to him.

He took a few more deep breaths and the feeling of panic slowly dissolved.

“Alright, are you feeling better? I’m sorry if this brought back hard memories, that wasn’t my intention at all.” Ten apologised. 

“Yes, I do, thanks. It’s just that the last time I was outed, it was followed by my parents screaming at me for an hour and then kicking me out the house. I’m fine with you knowing, I’m actually happy we got this out of the way right away.”

Ten started massaging his hand stronger, to the point that it was almost painful.

“They threw you out, because you’re gay?” he grumbled. “That is just terrible! I’m so angry in your stead, how could you have gotten over that? You must be an actual angel.”

“Um, Ten, that kind of hurts.” Jaehyun pressed out, as the massaging got even stronger.

“My bad, sorry. Alright, I’m going to pledge for you, too. We cannot have you return to the streets or any other place. Not to mention, we can all appreciate a handsome man around the house.”

 

Ten lend Jaehyun loose fitting, black clothes for the day, that were a bit short on all sleeves, but compared to the clothes that were ready to fall apart he had worn before the accident, it was perfectly fine and Jaehyun felt a bit chic and gothic, like Ten.

Kun was busy talking him through the cleaning plan, after Ten had furiously announced he wanted Jaehyun to join no matter what, because of his past, and he was going to make Yuta and Taeyong agree, if he had to, and Jaehyun started to feel a bit like he was getting whiplash from how quickly this was going, when the doorbell rang.

“That’s got to be Yuta and Taeyong. Took them long enough.” Kun muttered and left Jaehyun on the table with the cleaning plan. The clock read 1 pm and he didn’t really have a feeling for whether that was late or not. Ten came into the room, a fashion magazine open in his hand.

“I bet Yuta’s hungover as fuck.” Ten chuckled, and Jaehyun, once again, wondered over their relationship’s dynamic. 

There was soft talking from the hall and Jaehyun found himself on the edge of the chair, nervous and curious to meet the others, who were going to decide over his future. He really wanted them to like him. He wanted to stay with Kun and Ten, and if the other two were as wonderful as them, he wanted to stay with them, too.

The first one to come into the kitchen had unruly, ash-brown hair, and wore a pair of oversized sunglasses, indoors, mind you, with his sloppy outfit, looking very grumpy.

Ten barked out a loud laugh and the guy pushed down his sunglasses to glare him down.

“Can you be a bit quieter? Some people have headaches here.” He hissed.

“Aw, poor, poor little you. That’s what you get from trying to show off your non-existing tolerance. Jaehyunnie, that’s Yuta. Yuta, this is Jaehyunnie. Kun and I adopted him, isn’t he handsome?” Ten pulled on Jaehyun to sit straighter, by grabbing his shoulders.

Yuta pushed the sunglasses back up on his nose.

“Yes, he is. That’s why I need to save my first impression for later, when I’m my usual beautiful self.” Yuta huffed and sat down on the table. “Nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise.” Jaehyun quickly replied, though it felt very odd to not be able to see the other’s eyes. 

Ten mumbled something about Yuta being ugly at best times, though Jaehyun was sure it was their thing to insult each other, because the parts of the face he could see, were perfectly cut angles and fair, even skin. Yuta was about to jump over the table, hangover or no, when Kun entered the kitchen with the last coven member on his coat’s tail.

“Stop it, you two!” Kun said in a gentle voice, with only the smallest hint of annoyance, and Jaehyun watched in awe, how the two wranglers settled back into their chairs obediently. 

He had almost forgotten the last person in the room, and when he looked over and saw him, who must be Taeyong, he almost gasped.

His hair was snow white and fluffy, falling into wide, round eyes. His nose was tall and he had a small smile on. His cheekbones were high, and his jaw sleek and even. A few sparkling studs were on his ears, completing the fairy like look.

He was stunningly beautiful!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~


	3. Chapter 3

“Hi! I’m Taeyong! Nice to meet you!” Taeyong introduced himself, and the small smile on his face grew to a beam, that made his eyes crinkle a little, and Jaehyun just stared for a moment, before remembering, this was a situation, in which you were supposed to react.

“Nice to meet you, too, I’m Jaehyun.” He stuttered out. There.

“Tennie, do you have the iced green tea I liked?” Taeyong asked, blinking at Ten with wide eyes, that looked like actual puppy eyes. Jaehyun had never seem someone like him and he was mesmerised.

“I’m not some sort of café.” Ten whined, but gestured at the fridge, and Taeyong bounced off, to get himself the green tea he wanted. 

Someone cleared their throat, and Jaehyun snapped his head back, from where he was staring after Taeyong, only to see Ten with a mischievous smile on, looking straight at him. He was probably not very subtle, was he?

But Ten didn’t comment, and Jaehyun remembered he had promised not to out him to anyone, and send a silent thank you to the small Thai. This could have gotten very embarrassing very fast.

“Can we make this quick? No offense, Jaehyun, but I’m literally dying, god I feel so sick.” Yuta groaned from where his head was planted on the table.

“Well, I was going to suggest taking Jaehyun in out coven on probation, since he got turned unintendedly and is left without a mentor.” Kun started. It felt a bit weird that someone else was speaking for him, but Jaehyun kept quiet.

“Not to mention, his family kicked him out for no good reason, so he doesn’t have anywhere to go back to, and he looks good in black.” Ten added. The latter didn’t feel like an actual argument.

“I’m sure he looks good in any colour, but okay, fair point. I’m all for it. Taeyong?” Yuta grumbled.

Taeyong slipped between Jaehyun and Kun, and Jaehyun started getting giddy and nervous. He turned his head and blinked at Jaehyun. He internally cooed over the adorable mannerism.

“Since he’s in a similar position as I was, I’m also in favour.” Taeyong announced and Jaehyun felt a wave of relief. He was eager for approval from the pretty vampire.

“Great, Ten I’m using your room, don’t come in.” Yuta peeled himself off the table and wobbled out the door.

“It’s my fucking room, I can do whatever I want.” Ten called after him. Jaehyun felt a bit bad for Yuta, he looked really miserable. 

“Well, now that that’s taken care of, we should write you into the cleaning plan.” Ten chirped.

“I’m really great at cleaning. A bit rusty, maybe, but I can do anything!” Jaehyun assured.

“Great, because I hate everything.” Ten started scribbling into the plan.

Taeyong snatched the pen from his hand.

“You can’t just assign all the cleaning the Kun and Jaehyun!” Taeyong scolded. 

“Yeah, actually, he already does that.” Kun pointed out, leaning back on his chair. Jaehyun wanted to say, that he’d gladly do all the cleaning for both Ten and Kun, but he also didn’t want to talk back at Taeyong, who crossed him back out of where his name replaced Ten’s. 

“While these two fight over the cleaning plan, we really have to tell the girls about you. I mean, we could give them a call, but you know modern technology is… so-so. I rather do important things like this in person.”

“Modern technology?” Jaehyun stuttered. A phone wasn’t modern technology, was it?

“Yes, phones, telegrams, all this funny business. Anyway, we should get you some better fitting clothing and then go see them. But there’s really no way around this, we’ll get into trouble, if we keep you a secret, because they will find out sooner or later.”

Wait. Weren’t telegrams invented in the 19th century? How on earth did they qualify as modern technology?

“Yeah, sure I don’t mind.” Jaehyun nodded, while starting to realise, that Ten must have been born in the 17th century, and if Kun was even older… well maybe the telegram did qualify as modern then.

“Great. Let’s get going, then.” Kun smiled.

“Oh, can you bring back some milk? We ran out.” Taeyong looked up from where he seemed to be working on a concept to perfectly evenly part the cleaning duties. Jaehyun kept staring until someone cleared their throat.

Damn, he had to work on being subtler. Ten was grinning at him, again.

“No problem. Come on, Jaehyunnie.”

 

They stopped to get Jaehyun dressed in a proper shirt and jeans, but Jaehyun felt very out of place in the mall. Malls generally didn’t like loitering, because they had international brands and wanted to keep a posh image. 

However, he wasn’t a beggar in rags anymore. He kept forgetting that, as he followed Kun, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible.

“Alright, this is a much neater look. The girls currently live on the far outside of Seoul, so we have to take a taxi. In the past, we would run there, but since cars became a thing, you can’t safely run down the streets without having to dodge them all the time, so we don’t do that much anymore, only at night.”

“Is running different now, too?” Jaehyun asked. He wasn’t even surprised anymore.

Kun flagged down a cap.

“It is. Your general strength increased by a lot, and it will continue growing, as you get older. So, you can run faster, much faster than cars go in the city.”

They slipped into the taxi Kun had flagged down.

“This is a bit crazy.” Jaehyun muttered.

“I now it’s a lot at first, especially since you had no idea what you were getting into, but many people don’t. It gets better after a few weeks. And remember, there’s no dumb questions.” Kun gently told him.

 

The trip to the outside of Seoul took 45 minutes. Jaehyun spend most of the time tapping his leg, while Kun told him details about the neighbourhoods they drove through.

Jaehyun was familiar with the city to a certain point, but the farther out they got, the less he knew. The houses were smaller here, older. His family had never had any money problems in the slightest, he had grown up in nice houses, be it here, or in the US.

But Jaehyun couldn’t properly focus, because he was too distracted by the feeling of the car accelerating and braking down, which was a sensation he hadn’t felt in years, and it made him a little travel-sick, while simultaneously enjoying it, like a little child.

When they got off, he took a few deep breaths, only now realising, he hadn’t breathed that for the whole trip. Well, he no longer needed to.

Kun paid the driver and they left the car. 

The streets were relatively empty and the sky wasn’t as far away, as it was in the centre of Seoul these days. The house Kun headed to, had beautifully groomed flowers in the front, and an old, wooden door with a heavy knocker. 

The sound of the metal echoed in Jaehyun’s ears, soon followed by the sound of steps.

He didn’t feel as nervous. Sure, these people were the peacekeepers, they surely were big names. But they were just here to tell them about him, weren’t they?

A tiny woman opened the door and looked at them expectantly. She was pretty, with long black hair, but her gaze was cold and she held herself with the confidence of someone with a lot of power.

“Hello Sunny. How are you?” Kun casually greeted. Her eyes settled on Jaehyun, and the she stepped aside, waving them inside without a word. 

Jaehyun looked at Kun for help, who gave him a nod, so he followed into the house.

The hallway was dimly lit and the walls dark, giving the house a spooky vibe. 

Jaehyun wondered, if this was on purpose, to intimidate people, or if it was their aesthetic. The woman, Sunny, opened a slide door with a rattle, and the room they entered was a bit brighter, with two sofas.

Kun went ahead and sat down, gesturing for Jaehyun to follow, while Sunny went to the cabinet next to the door.

Jaehyun watched in fascination, as she sat down without a word, opening a leather-bound book that looked ancient. She flipped through pages and pages full of handwriting, until she arrived at a blank one.

“So?” she looked up, her face blank and Jaehyun was ready to run now. She may be small, but she was intimidating!

Kun nudged him, but Jaehyun didn’t get the cue, what was he supposed to do? He stared at Kun with wide eyes, who took matters into his own hands.

“This is Jaehyun. He’s been turned four days ago, and I picked him off the streets yesterday evening.” Kun introduced. 

Sunny wrote something down, but Jaehyun couldn’t tell, because she kept the book raised, so the page couldn’t be seen. She looked up and Jaehyun startled to sit straighter.

“How did you die?” she asked in a monotonous voice. Jaehyun felt like he had back in school, when the teacher had called him to answer a question in front of the whole class.

“I got run over by a truck.” His voice came out a bit higher than usually, but Sunny’s mouth twitched to a tiny smile for a second, which made the cold façade break for a moment.

“And you don’t know who turned you?” she asked.

“No, I was sort of confused, I didn’t even know I got turned.” Jaehyun admitted and she looked annoyed, like this had happened before.

“Well, we have a rule-breaker there. Did anyone give you something to drink or to eat the day before the accident?” she asked, tapping the pen on the book. She seemed to know exactly what to look for, but Jaehyun didn’t know, what to give her, what to try and remember. How did you even turn someone into a vampire?

Jaehyun thought back of the day before the weirdness started. It hadn’t been a special day, no days ever really were. 

Wait, there was a memory: the drunk girl, who had given him her bottle of coke.

“I got a coke from a drunk girl at the convenience store.” Jaehyun offered. That probably wasn’t it? If Coke was the key to vampirism…

“Coca Cola? Ah, yes, that works, it’s dark brown, so you wouldn’t be able to tell. Was the taste normal?” Sunny stared at him, like she was able to see the answers for herself, if she stared hard enough.

“I guess? I don’t usually drink sugary drinks.” 

Sunny sighed.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

She closed the book and pulled up a notepad.

“I need you to describe how she looked like. I need every detail, because this is a major problem. I’m sure Kun already told you, that turning vampires is no allowed without permission from us. We can’t have an exploding vampire population. It’s not safe. Not to mention, you need to mentor a newly turned. Anyway, I guess Kun’s doing that for you?”

“Yes.” Kun immediately confirmed.

“Good. Please, describe her.”

 

Jaehyun tried his best, but he wasn’t sure, if this was the right thing. There was no doubt that if they got her, she’d face severe consequences. And it was a scary thought, that he’d be involved in that, not matter if what she did was right or wrong.

Jaehyun wasn’t even angry he got turned. The coven was a major step up from the streets. Sure, there were a lot of things to get used to, but he’d manage. All the chances that had opened up the moment Kun had talked to him far outweighed that.

Sunny gave them a small smile, thanking him for the information, when she sent them off. It was a short, but very scary visit.

“Well, that was fun.” Kun muttered, when they finally got a taxi to return to the city centre. 

“Are they all this scary?” Jaehyun asked, relaxing into the seat.

“More or less. Part of it is their image, some of it is their personality, and part of it is annoyance, because things keep getting messy.”

“Must be a hard job.” 

“I think it is, they’re doing it alright and we need it. As you can see, even with them in place there’s trouble.” Kun answered. Jaehyun agreed. It probably wouldn’t end well for the humans, if vampires just roamed around Seoul without rules.

 

They picked up milk and Bitter Lemon from the store, before returning to the apartment. Yuta was nowhere to be seen, and Taeyong and Ten were in the living room, a cassette recorder blasting hip hop, and showing each other snippets of dances.

“We’re back.” Kun announced and Jaehyun stopped and watched Taeyong finish his move. The way he moved was awfully familiar, full of perfect precision and control.

“Did you dance in the club yesterday?” Jaehyun asked, before he could think about it. He immediately regretted his blunt question, but what it was too late.

Taeyong smiled. “Yeah, I always do that, it’s fun!” 

The music stopped and Jaehyun heard a ‘fucking finally’ from the bedrooms – probably Yuta. Poor thing.

“Oh, I…. you’re really good.” Jaehyun wanted to slap himself. Taeyong must know he was ‘really good’, he was amazing! Talented, gifted… there were a million better adjectives than ‘really good’.

“Thank you! I used to be a dancer, professionally, before I died.” Taeyong was still beaming at the sad compliment and Jaehyun felt himself melt a little.

“Where did you dance?” 

“Where ever they’d hire me. I did different styles of dancing, sometimes with a crew. I mean, you don’t earn a lot, but it’s what I really love, so, I just made it work somehow.” 

Jaehyun wanted to tell him, how admirable he found that, but Ten mentioned another important matter.

“What did the girls say? Who did you meet?” 

Taeyong’s beam faltered to a worried expression. He might find them just as scary as Jaehyun did.

“Sunny was. She registered him, and I think they’ll look for whoever gave him blood. She got a description.”

“Yeah, that was to be expected.” Ten sighed.

“Maybe, they won’t find her. No offense, but you didn’t give a very good description, Jaehyun.”

“Is that bad?” Jaehyun asked, looking around. He noticed that Taeyong had shrunk into a frowning ball.

“That depends on your point of view.” Ten explained. Jaehyun was mainly interested in Taeyong’s point of view and how to cheer him up.

“Which are there?” he tried to get more information. 

“Well, the girls are doing a very important job, but no one is without fail.” Kun started, but Ten cut in, patting Taeyong’s hair carefully.

“They have a massive bias between covens. And with the ones who aren’t in the close circle, they have absolutely no mercy and never give a second chance, because they don’t investigate the situation.” Ten summarised with dark expression.

Jaehyun was sure there was a history there, one that involved Taeyong, but it felt inappropriate to ask. 

“Yes, that’s the short version. The girl who is responsible for your change made a mistake, but she didn’t have evil intent, I think. But she’s most likely not close to the girls, because all those who are, really stick very close to the rules.”

Jaehyun nodded. So, the weird feeling that he was giving someone away to an awful fate hadn’t been wrong. 

“Well, but they might not know who it was.” Taeyong chipped in, with a small smile on.

“That’s right. Honestly, there’s really nothing we can do, if we don’t want to really get on their bad side.” Kun reminded.

“Yeah, like really fucking our position up for the next centuries. Let’s not do that. Sorry, Taeyongie.” Ten ruffled the white hair some more. Jaehyun really wanted to know, what it felt like. It looked soft, but bleaching did a lot of damage to hair, and it usually felt a bit like straw. 

“Don’t worry. Did you get milk?” Taeyong promptly switched the topic.

“We did.”

 

Jaehyun slept the best in years on the sofa, but still not very deep, so, he was woken by Kun getting breakfast the next morning.

Kun left for work, at some international bank, which Jaehyun was going to ask more about when he got the chance to. He was still scanning the extensive book shelves, trying to remember all the books he wanted to read at some point, when Ten emerged from his room. 

He must have been up for longer, because Jaehyun had heard peaceful music from his room for about half an hour already. 

“Good morning, sunshine. Ready for some intense shopping?” Ten beamed “Because I am.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jaehyun had never done any intense shopping, so he wasn’t sure if he was ready or not. How hard could it be, it was just buying things, wasn’t it?

“Wonderful, that’s the spirit. I cleared out so much space in Kun’s closet last night, we don’t have to worry about logistics and don’t have to hold back.”

Kun hadn’t been given a chance to talk back, when Taeyong and Ten attacked his room yesterday. Yuta had suggested clearing some of Ten’s clothing, but one death glare had made it obvious that wasn’t going to happen.

Jaehyun would have to thank him some more, when they returned from buying clothes. 

“You should just wear that stuff from yesterday again, anything from us will look dumb. I mean, size doesn’t matter, but let’s not dress like idiots.” Ten winked, and Jaehyun stared at him scandalised. 

 

They met up with Yuta and Taeyong halfway between the two houses where their respective flats were. Jaehyun had learnt that they did it to make themselves less vulnerable. They roomed differently Jaehyun had learnt, whatever they felt like, and Yuta had offered their sofa, too, but Kun had pointed out, that it didn’t pull out, and their flat was much smaller compared to theirs, so, Jaehyun had stayed where he was.

Yuta was finally not wearing shades, and seemed much more agreeable than yesterday, sporting a bright smile.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Jaehyun! I’m Nakamoto Yuta!” he cheerfully introduced himself, offering Jaehyun a hand, who stared at the Japanese for a moment of utter confusion, because he clearly remembered introducing themselves yesterday, but still took the offered hand wordlessly.

“Wow, you’re desperate. Embarrassing. Let’s get going, we have a lot to do, and then we also have to take care of the situation on your head, Jaehyunnie.” Ten announced. 

They marched right into the same mall Kun had taken him to yesterday, and Jaehyun guessed they were regulars here. When he was still in high school, he and his friends always went to the same arcade after school, too. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Taeyong asked, as they walked straight into the first shop. 

“Taeyongie, I’m sorry, we’re not dressing him in his favourite colour, we’re dressing him in his best colour, which we have yet to determine. But we have all day.” Ten grinned, and Taeyong started nagging, that it was important to have a few pieces in your favourite colour.

Jaehyun started wondering, what he had gotten himself into. Who shopped for the whole day?

 

A lot. He had gotten himself into a lot. They were on their sixth hour in the mall, but only on the first floor, because they went into every shop, including a quick stop to get drinks, thank god. 

Jaehyun had never considered dressing himself an exhausting task, but after doing it again, and again for so many times, it became a workout-routine.

The three vampires kept brining things, all following a warm palate, after they had decided it was the best fit on him, and the bags kept piling up. Thankfully, there were four people to carry them, because it was too much for only one person by now. Especially the four pairs of shoes had added weight to their luggage. 

But Taeyong always looked at him expectantly, when he left the changing room. When he liked the outfit, he smiled brightly, sometimes even clapping his hands a little, if it was really good. So, Jaehyun kept wearing whatever he was given, because he wanted to see Taeyong approve his outfits.

It was a bit pathetic, even in his eyes.

“We only have 90 minutes left, until they close. Maybe, we should move to the barber?” Yuta suggested, after checking his watch. 

“Really? Wow, if you have fun, time sure runs.” Ten checked his own watch to confirm the time.

“Are you going to the aunty down our street?” Taeyong inquired.

“I wouldn’t trust anyone else. How about this: you take care of this and we meet in my flat in about… two hours?” Ten suggested, already shoving Jaehyun back into the changing room.

“What? I don’t wanna carry all of this!” Taeyong gasped. Jaehyun was about to jump out and declare that he’d happily carry everything, including Taeyong himself, if he wanted, but he stopped himself, as he was currently not wearing a shirt, and Ten already piped up:

“I’m sure Jaehyunnie will happily carry it for you.”

“Excuse me? What about me?” Yuta complained.

“Wow, are you seriously suggesting I carry that shit? Absolutely not, I’m not your personal servant, shoo, shoo, off you go, see you later, you can put that into Kun’s closet, if you have time.”

Jaehyun snorted a small laughter at Ten’s commanding voice.

 

The barber shop Ten led him to was tiny and the furniture looked at least 20 years old. There was only one woman working on a single customer. She greeted Ten like her long lost son, and looking at his impeccable hair, Jaehyun knew why.

“We have a bit of a situation going on here, as you can tell.” Ten pulled on the elastic holding Jaehyun’s hair together, while the woman kept going through the elderly man’s hair at lightning speed with her razor. 

She seemed to really know what she was doing, because the damage if she didn’t would be pretty big with her chosen instrument. 

“Aigoo, we really do.” She said, continuing her work without looking. 

“Youth these days. When I was younger, we all shaved our hair off, to look humble.” The man in her chair, who currently didn’t get his hair shaved off either, huffed.

“The good thing is, that we can do everything with this basis. Don’t worry, I already have something in mind for you. You’ll be so handsome, the ladies will beg you to marry them right on the street, like our Tennie.” She assured with a bright smile.

Jaehyun glanced at his mentor, who nodded excitedly. He doubted Ten cared much for ladies wanting to marry them.

“Don’t worry, she knows what she’s doing. No fancy big shop has her skills.”

 

Jaehyun was scared to move. There was a raising number of foils on his head and the chemicals from the dye burned in his eyes a little. The aunty worked at the same frightening speed she had earlier, while animatedly talking with Ten over a drama that seemed to be running.

He had never dyed his hair before, but he knew there was a lot that could go wrong. Some of the girls in his class used to bleach their hair, and there was a lot of orange going on there. Jaehyun rather not wanted orange hair. 

But he didn’t voice his worries, not wanting to insult the lady. After a lot more foils, some waiting, more talks about dramas, some adjusting of Ten’s fringe, they washed his hair out and the result was a wonderful brown, not orange. What a relief.

After that, the strands started falling. It was a relief, to be honest. Jaehyun hated the messy look the long hair gave him. He wasn’t very confident in his looks, not anymore, but as he watched his hair start to frame his face properly, he could see what had gotten buried under the poverty of the streets.

When she finished styling, Jaehyun could hardly believe it, how differently he looked. His hair was now parted on the side, swept over his forehead, the back neatly shaved. 

Ten hugged the lady with a small squeak.

“I knew you could save it! Now, we have a prince charming!” 

“Well, of course. I told you he’d look stunning. You need to properly take care of your hair, because dye always does a bit of damage. We want to control that, so it doesn’t get out of hand. Ten will tell you how to take care of your hair, and you’ll follow that.” the aunty smiled, but Jaehyun didn’t miss that she talked to him like she might to a child. No one had talked to him like that in a while, but he didn’t mind it as much, as he probably should.

“Yes, of course. Thank you very much!”

“You’re welcome. It’s my biggest joy to enhance young peoples’ looks to their best.”

 

“Holy shit! I already thought he was a 10 out of 10, but now…” Yuta hollered, when Jaehyun came to Kun’s bedroom, where they were putting his clothing into the closet. Jaehyun felt a bit bad that they did the work for him. 

His ears used to get red, when he was embarrassed, but he no longer blushed, so his ears weren’t giving him away. But he was definitely getting flustered from all the compliments today.

Taeyong appeared from behind the closet door, leaning backwards and stared for a moment, before going back to sorting clothing.

“Yeah, it’s good.” Jaehyun heard. He was a bit disappointed. Sure, it was stupid to crave a compliment from Taeyong, but he couldn’t help it.

“It’s good?” Yuta imitated Taeyong “Ridiculous. Jaehyun, don’t listen to him, you look absolutely fucking gorgeous. God, I’m so glad Kun found you!”

“Wow, you’re really desperate. You better try and stay in line, if you corrupt my son, I will leave you behind in clubs for the next fifty years.” Ten glared. Jaehyun had no idea when he had become Ten’s son, but that was fine. He wasn’t going to complaint. 

“Excuse me? Who’s constantly accommodating, because you don’t want to top to save your life?”

“I mean, if you’d have anything to offer while bottoming, I wouldn’t have to complain so much, ever thought about that?”

“And you think you’re all high and mighty?” 

“Well, I do know for sure I ride like a champ.”

Jaehyun looked at Taeyong for help, but the small vampire was hiding in the closet, while Ten and Yuta continued arguing. Jaehyun didn’t even know what they were talking about, until it got very obvious – were they talking about sex?

He sneaked next to Taeyong with the remaining bags he had carried.

Taeyong startled a little.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Here is the rest of the shopping trip.” Jaehyun offered carefully.

Taeyong’s eyes were wide, and then he blinked and quickly looked away.

“It’s fine. I tried too hard to ignore Ten and Yuta. Thank you for carrying this.” He mumbled.

Jaehyun glanced over his shoulder. The two had stopped their fighting and were now watching them, which was only slightly awkward. Ten had this grin on again.

“Continue. Don’t let us stop you.” Yuta chirped.

“You’re so embarrassing, we’re not some sort of drama to watch.” Taeyong huffed and stomped to the door. “I want some ice cream.”

Jaehyun looked at Ten and Yuta, who immediately started waving their arms for him to follow him. Well, guess Yuta did the maths, too. Jaehyun definitely needed to be subtler. 

He didn’t move fast enough for the two, so, they shoved him out the door, after Taeyong.

“We really have to stock Kun’s closet with your stuff.” Ten loudly announced.

“Yes, so many clothes. Wow, this will take some time. You better eat a lot of ice cream!” Yuta added. Jaehyun stumbled and almost fell into Taeyong, who had halted a few steps from the bedroom away. He caught himself in time to not make a complete fool of himself.

“Are you coming with me?” Taeyong asked, obviously surprised.

“Um, yeah, if you’re fine with that?” Jaehyun scratched his neck and tried for a small smile.

“Yes!” he immediately replied “I mean, it’s fine.” He added, when he realised that he had spoken very quickly and very eagerly. It was so cute!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading ~  
> I got inspired by Hani's reaction to Heechul chopping off his "aunty hair" on A Style For You (if you don't know it: Hani joked around freely with him before, but then suddenly got very shy, barely looking at him, and kept repeatin how handsome he was. I think it's really cute~)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left Kudos or a comment, I'm very happy to hear that you liked the story, and I hope I can bring my ideas across how I want them to~

“How come, we can eat ice cream?” Jaehyun asked, while Taeyong scanned the freezer in the convenience store on the corner.

“You have to really make sure it’s completely molten. Anything chunky doesn’t work, but it’s not that we can’t have a certain food. If liquid, we can have anything! But most food won’t liquidise without becoming disgusting.” Taeyong opened the freezer and pulled out strawberry ice cream.

“What do you want?” he blinked at Jaehyun quickly, before focussing on the ice cream again.

“Um….” Jaehyun hadn’t eaten ice cream in forever, he didn’t even properly remember what the taste was like. It was a luxury item and bad for your teeth, a combination he had thoroughly avoided for the last years.

“Strawberry is really good. I like it the best.” Taeyong suggested and Jaehyun stored that information away for later use.

“Then I’ll try that, please.” Jaehyun smiled and Taeyong fished another cup from the freezer.

“It’s really unfortunate. I sometimes crave a certain food, maybe noodles, or meat, it depends. But it’s off limits, if I don’t want to get sick.” Taeyong pouted.

Jaehyun had to strongly remind himself he couldn’t stare, but he was so cute!

They paid and settled on the table close to the entrance.

“How old are you?” Jaehyun asked, while struggling with the lid of the ice cream. It was so cold, Jaehyun decided to let it melt some more, before starting on it.

Taeyong didn’t have the same inhibitions, immediately licking it off his spoon. His tongue was really pink… Jaehyun internally slapped himself.

“I was born in 1956, just a bit after the war, or at least the fighting, stopped. I died when I was 23, depending on how you count, I’m either 40, or 18.” Taeyong replied. “Ten said you’re 22?”

Jaehyun nodded. 

“The girls don’t care about your human lives, so technically, you’re 1 year old with them now.” Taeyong giggled. 

“That’s weird.” Jaehyun scooped some of the soft ice cream on the spoon, and slowly put it in his mouth. It was a weird sensation, frozen on his tongue, but the sweetness immediately kicked in. He looked up to find Taeyong staring at him and held the eyecontact for a second, before they both looked away quickly.

“Yeah, kinda.”

They just sat in silence, letting their ice cream melt in their mouths, unsure what to say. Jaehyun just felt so nervous now. He was still struggling to make a good impression.

“Um – were you really run over by a truck?” Taeyong eventually broke the silence.

“I did. I must have missed the red light, because I was thinking and then, I looked up and saw it, much too close to run, the next thing that happened, was waking up in the morgue of a hospital.” Jaehyun told him, still a bit freaked out, when he recalled it.

“In the morgue? Oh my god, with…” Taeyong lowered his voice, eyes wide “dead people?” 

“Yes. I even got a black bracelet for deceased.”

“Oh my god, that’s so scary! And what did you do then?” Taeyong stared at him.

“I kind of just walked out of there. I mean, a nurse tried to stop me, but I just told her to let me leave.” Jaehyun shrugged.

“You did? So, you bewitched her?” Taeyong asked.

“Oh, yes, that’s what it’s called. I didn’t do it on purpose. I thought I was dreaming, because people would give me things I asked them for and I don’t have a heartbeat.” Jaehyun admitted, ducking his head into the ice cream.

“Really?” 

“Uh – yes.” 

“That’s so cute!” Taeyong started giggling. Jaehyun looked up from his ice cream, that wasn’t the reaction he had expected to get. 

“I’m sorry, I really don’t mean it in a bad way! That you thought you were dreaming, I mean.” Taeyong said, still giggling.

“It… is? I mean, I guess? What’s the normal reaction?” Jaehyun stuttered. 

“I think most people freak out.” Taeyong said earnestly with a small nod to reinforce his thoughts. 

“Did you?” 

“Yep!” he replied, letting the p pop from his lips. “It speaks for you, that you stayed calm and looked for some explanation, even if the one you came up with isn’t right.” 

Jaehyun started fidgeting in his chair, looking everywhere but Taeyong’s direction. “Uh thanks?”

“You’re welcome! Careful, there’s a drop on your spoon!”

The warning came a bit too late, and the ice cream landed right on Jaehyun’s shirt. He muttered a soft curse under his breath, but Taeyong reached over the table and dabbed it off with a napkin. 

Jaehyun looked up, seeing the other leaned over the table, his face close to his. Taeyong noticed what he was doing a second later and scrambled backwards, almost falling off his chair in the process.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“No! Thanks for saving my shirt!”

“It’s new, so I was just thinking…” Taeyong rubbed his eyes in embarrassment. 

“Really, don’t worry. Imagine what Ten and Yuta would say, if I waltzed through Seoul in a stained shirt.”

“They’d be very upset.” Taeyong giggled behind his hands.

 

Ten squinted at Jaehyun. He thought it would be unnecessary to model the clothing he had just tried on the day before again, but apparently, Ten already had new plans for what would match. And there was no talking back to Ten, when he had a plan in mind. 

It was still strange to shower on a daily basis and just put on a new outfit. But it also felt very good.

“Yes, that will do. Now, let me put some wax in your hair, and we’re all good.” Ten slowly nodded. “Taeyong won’t ever recover.” He added, giggling.

“What?” Jaehyun stared at him.

“Oh please, you two were literally more hilarious to watch than any romance drama ever written.”

Jaehyun frowned. He wasn’t going to try and deny his crush on Taeyong, because he didn’t live under a rock, he knew what his feelings were. But Taeyong?

“Don’t be silly, Taeyong doesn’t see me that way.”

Ten looked at him with a deadpan expression.

“Are you an actual idiot?”

“Why would he…”

“Oh god, you actually think that? No, no, no, let me tell you, I’ve lived with Taeyongie for what? 20 years or so.”

“18.”

“How come you know?” Ten raised both eyebrows, with a sly smile.

“We… talked?”

“Alright, 18 then. He is very easy to read. And so are you. I don’t even have to live with you to figure out that lovesick puppy look on you. It’s called love at first sight. I mean, there’s always a risk, that you’re secretly an asshole, that it won’t work out, or something else. But that’s how love works. We think you would be very cute together, so, we’re going to give you a gently nudge in the right direction.” Ten beamed.

“Who is we?” Jaehyun gaped.

“Yuta and me, of course. Kun’s just going to tell us to leave off it, so. Not going to tell him. Ah, this is so much fun.”

Jaehyun decided there was no stopping the force of nature, that Yuta and Ten were and he had brought that upon himself by staring so bluntly. But he wasn’t just going to believe Ten. 

It was too easy to make him think Taeyong felt the same, when he hadn’t noticed himself, to trick him, to test him, to do god knows what. Jaehyun was too scared to risk his position with the coven, that was just a trial one to begin with, to just believe Ten.

After all, he didn’t have much to offer. Why should Taeyong feel the way for him?

Living on the streets had taught Jaehyun to be careful.

 

“Alright. Welcome to professor Nakamoto’s lessons for baby vampires.” Yuta clapped his hands with a wide grin. “Just kidding, you don’t have to refer to me as professor… or do you?”

Jaehyun stared at the older vampire, starting to wonder, if this he was actually going to learn anything today. Apparently, Taeyong had learnt best from Yuta on how to control the red-eyes-and-fangs-situation, as they called it for the lack of a better name. So, he had been appointed as his teacher.

“You usually fang out, when your body thinks you should be drinking, or tearing apart attackers. It can happen under strong emotions, and definitely will if you’re fighting. Vampire fangs make for good weapons, so it makes sense. That’s instincts. However, there are situations in which you would fang out, but you can’t, because that would give you away to outsiders, so, we practice to control it.”

“Yes.” Jaehyun nodded, eager to learn. 

“It’s a process, so don’t worry if it doesn’t work right away. For now, we’ll just focus on getting back and forth in neutral situations. Alright. At first, I want you to get familiar with the general feeling, so you can recognise it.” Yuta explained “I’ll try and trigger it, try to focus your eyes on something here, that’s as boring as possible, and then carefully listen to what I say and imagine it, alright?”

“Yes, got it.” Jaehyun chose the paper napkin holder on the side. It seemed boring enough.

“Now, think back to the first time you fed. Remember the pulse of the guy you fed from.”

“Wait, how do you know it was a guy?” Jaehyun interrupted Yuta.

“Excuse me? I said concentration! And we always take tall guys, because you can take more blood from them without them getting harmed. Now, concentrate!” Yuta scolded.

“Sorry.”

“Remember his pulse, how it felt under your fingers, how you could trace his arteries in his arm, and …”

“How do you know it was his arm? Is that the go to spot?”

Yuta collapsed on the table.

“That’s not the point, the wrist is easies, we usually go for the wrist.” Yuta whined.

“Ah. Sorry.”

“Okay, so, imagine the pulse under the skin, finding a good place, where it’s prominent. Remember, how you bit down and how the blood tasted, it was warm and nice in your mouth.”

“Yuta, I’m sorry, but this is sort of creepy, if you do your voice like that.”

“God damn it, I’m trying to build up a feeling here!” Yuta slapped the table.

“Oh. Sorry.”

Yuta looked at him in exhaustion.

“How about you try and remember without me talking about it?” he suggested with a deep sigh.

“I can try that.”

Jaehyun recalled how the blood had tasted, and how it had finally sated that hunger. A small shiver crept up his spine, and it felt like his eyes tickled a little, and then, his teeth felt like he had bitten into something frozen for a moment, and the next second, his mouth was too full, his canines elongated in his jaw.

“Well, this is discouraging for my teaching abilities. But there we go, good job, student Jaehyun.” Yuta nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Now, keep that feeling in mind, what was it like? Like tickling, right?”

“Yeah, like biting ice.” Jaehyun lisped around the fangs, they definitely messed with his speaking ability. 

“Alright. Really feel your teeth, so you can remember what they feel like with the fangs. The eyes you can only see, not feel, but they come in a set with the teeth.”

Jaehyun obediently traced the fangs, trying to commit them to memory as well as possible. Because they felt so foreign and new in his mouth, he couldn’t help, but trace his tongue over them all the time, even if he didn’t actively try.

“Okay, now, the feeling backwards is the same, like biting on ice, you said? Imagine that, and then think of how your teeth should feel like, really imagine it.”

Jaehyun remembered the feeling on his teeth, but he was so distracted from how the fangs felt in his mouth, he couldn’t quite concentrate on how they were supposed to feel. 

“Jaehyunnie, you’re not thinking about your teeth.” Yuta gently reminded him. 

“Right, sorry.” Jaehyun muttered. He tried to recall, but somehow, he couldn’t really remember what his teeth were supposed to feel like.

Smaller, right?

This was surprisingly hard.

“It’s okay, it’s much harder than one would think. If that doesn’t work, remember feeling really full.”

Jaehyun wrinkled his nose and remembered not even being able take another drop, because he was so full. The feeling was very present, suddenly, and his teeth did the uncomfortable feeling of being shock frosted again, and before he knew it, they were back to blunt.

“There you go. Good job.” Yuta smiled encouragingly. “That’s the very basics of it. For now, we should work on you getting faster in your change. It should be like pulling a switch, back and forth, in below a second, eventually. Like so.”

Yuta’s eyes flashed to red and he grinned, showing off his fangs, which immediately retracted again.

“Stop being a show off! You did really well, Jaehyun!” Taeyong suddenly chirped, bursting into the kitchen. Jaehyun had been aware he was home, but he hadn’t expected him to listen in. Both happiness over the compliment, and embarrassment over him witnessing it flooded him.

“Uh – thanks?” Jaehyun stuttered. Wow, he was really a pro at making himself look like an idiot with three brain cells in front of Taeyong.

“I mean it, really.” He nodded eagerly. “It’s normal that you need some time to get the change to go fast.”

“Yeah, I already said that.” Yuta complained “Excuse me, I’m trying to hold a lesson here.” He slapped the table multiple times.

 

Taeyong happily joined the lesson, and it went downhill from there. Jaehyun barely managed to get his fangs back out, and then he was stuck for almost half an hour, and Yuta eventually gave up, which was probably for the better.

Taeyong happily invited Jaehyun to have iced tea with him, and who was he, to turn some ridiculously sweetened tea with ice cubes in it down?

 

“Don’t worry about the fang-situation. You’ve got the general idea, so now, everything is practice. Practice makes perfect!” Taeyong swung the straw he had gotten himself for his sugar with tea, like he was a wizard. 

“Thanks. I’ll practice a lot, then.” Jaehyun took a very small sip of the tea. Thank god, cavities were a worry of the past. As well as diabetes.

“We’ll go out tomorrow, by the way. Drinking every three days is the ideal cycle. You’ll probably start to feel hungry, too. If you want to, you can come with me. Kun usually makes sure we’re all safe, he tends to get stressed out, when he can’t take care of people, but it’s not that much fun with him. I like dancing, and it makes it easy to find someone to take blood from. I can get you someone as well, I mean, the process itself is easy, don’t you think so?”

“I’m just worried over draining someone. Doesn’t that always happen in the vampire movies?” Jaehyun wondered.

“Oh, yes, those are terrible representation. If you drink on such a regular basis, you will nowhere near drain a man, before you feel so full, you can’t take more.” Taeyong shook his head “You can really trust your instincts on that one. But it’s good to think of it.”

“Okay. That’s good to know. If you’d take me, I’d be really happy, thank you.” Jaehyun felt giddy at the idea of spending the evening with him.

Taeyong beamed and nodded.

“Yes, absolutely! I’ll take really good care of you! Do you like to dance?”

 

The moment Ten got wind that Taeyong had offered to take care of him for the upcoming evening, his eyes got this scary sparkle.

Jaehyun tried to peacefully practice how to get his fangs in and out in the afternoon, but Ten insisted he had to wash his hair again, so he could blow-dry it. So, Jaehyun ended up in a chair in the bathroom, in front of the mirror, with Ten working products into his hair, before starting to pull it over a brush and blow dry it.

Jaehyun tried to still get his practice done, but the pulling on his hair was borderline painful and very distracting. 

“Jaehyunnie, sweetie, I get you’re not used to getting your hair properly done, but please hold still. Moving around will only make this even more uncomfortable.” 

“I’m sorry. But it kind of hurts.” Jaehyun admitted. Ten turned the power down, so they could hear each other better and not be disturbed by the wind.

“You don’t like your hair pulled? That’s a first, I think.”

“Who likes their hair pulled? We used to do that in primary school to annoy the girls. I’ll try to hold still better, promise.”

Ten looked at him with a pitying look, before switching the blow dryer back on, muttering something like a ‘sweet summer child’.

Jaehyun felt like something major had just gone over his head.

“Anyway, you said you didn’t really ever go to party, so I really need you to stick to Taeyong. Don’t leave his side. Don’t talk to people, especially drunks, before you understand how drunks work. But overall, just enjoy yourself. Dancing always works. Do you dance? Because Taeyong always dances.”

“I had dancing lessons until I was a teen?” Jaehyun supplied. He hadn’t danced since, for obvious reasons.

“Well, you’ll figure it out once inside. Oh, and please don’t drink and, preferably, don’t let Taeyong drink, either. He’s a lightweight and goes into sprees of bad decisions.” 

Jaehyun hadn’t planned on drinking, because it sounded like a terrible idea to try alcohol for the first time when you were there to drink another liquid in the end of the night, and still getting used to being a vampire.

“And in case anything happens, or you just want to go home, I don’t know, find Kun.” Ten ended.

“Alright, noted.” 

“Good, now, let’s get this finished and then we have an outfit to plan and I didn’t even get started on myself.”

“I mean, I could have probably just gone as it is?” Jaehyun tried, but Ten immediately tugged harder on his hair, shaking his head.

“We want to show Taeyong what you’ve got. Not to mention it’s fun.”

Jaehyun was still massively confused what Ten’s goal with him and Taeyong was, but if he was offered the chance to impress the other, he’d take it, no questions asked.

 

Jaehyun was definitely impressed with his hair, when Ten finally finished off. He was glad he no longer breathed, because he would have probably suffocated in the hairspray fog.

Jaehyun figured it was quite a lot of work to spend the whole afternoon to get ready for the night, especially when Kun came home from work, and just took off his jacket and tie, opening his upper buttons a little, and messing up his hair a little, before declaring himself ready to go.

And Ten didn’t even complain.

“We switch clubs every time we go out, it’s a distraction method. The hunters haven’t figured out that’s the easiest way to get blood for us, and we want to keep it that way.” Kun explained, while Ten was still deciding between which shoes he should wear. 

“Remember, make sure no one sees you drinking, okay?” Kun repeated and Jaehyun nodded obediently. He definitely wouldn’t want anyone to watch that. Any person would get concerned by that.

 

Yuta’s light hair was styled just as much as Jaehyun’s, but Jaehyun only spared him a short glance, before focussing on Taeyong. His hair was just fluffy over his forehead and he wore a simply pair of straight cut jeans, topped with a band t-shirt, tugged into it. There was a shadow around his eyes, that was not natural, but he looked absolutely effortlessly put together.

Effortlessly beautiful.

“Don’t worry. I know what to do, Kun! I won’t risk anything!” Taeyong assured the fretting vampire. 

Kun sighed and looked at Jaehyun, obviously not convinced.

“Come on, Kun, we taught the kid well, he can do it, there’s a point at which parents have to let go.” Ten chuckled and gave him a gentle push. 

“Well, I don’t feel like that point has arrived for Jaehyun yet.” Kun muttered and Jaehyun felt the comfortable warmth of belonging. 

“While I still don’t agree with referring to them as children, I agree, that Taeyongie will do well. And you can always watch from afar. I mean, you will anyway, don’t try to fool anyone.” Yuta chipped in. 

The moment they were on the streets, lit by the streetlights and window decorations, and Jaehyun saw humans, he felt the distinct tug of hunger in his guts. It wasn’t bad yet, but it was definitely there, and he wanted to do something to quench it, sooner rather than later.

The people heading to the clubs at such an early hour were still small in number, so there was no queuing going on yet. The bouncer asked Kun for an ID, but with a simple sentence, he stepped aside and let all of them enter.

Jaehyun could properly take in the setting this time, not overwhelmed by hunger or tired from just feeding. Not to mention people weren’t rubbing shoulders yet.

Taeyong bounced in excitement next to him.

“Alright, see you later, or tomorrow, stay safe.” Kun sighed, obviously hating having to part with them. 

“Bye, bitches. I’ll get me some good lay tonight!” Ten announced, and with that, he was gone. 

“Let’s map out the dance floor, okay?” Taeyong looked up at Jaehyun with a beam. “I try to get a good spot before it’s too crowded. And if you see someone you like, tell me, I usually bewitch them to stay until late, so I don’t have to pick the leftovers when I’m tired. Oh, wait, no, we can’t take girls. Sorry, you can’t choose.”

Jaehyun stared at Taeyong for a second, but the smaller didn’t wait, not giving Jaehyun a chance to clear, what seemed like a huge misconception. 

Instead, he rushed after him through the club, closer to the boxes, where the beat of hip hop was deafening. There were a few guys and girls moving somewhat in rhythm with the music, but Taeyong seemed drawn to the DJ-desk, like last time, where the music was the loudest, and the most people were moving, and not just standing with drinks in their hands.

“I like it close to the music. Today’s Friday, so it’ll be fuller, because of the weekend.” Taeyong shouted into Jaehyun’s ear. He was tapping in time with the beat. But seemed to look for his approval. If wasn’t like Jaehyun had different plans, or better ideas, and even if he had, he’d still happily do whatever Taeyong wanted.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Great! Let’s see what you’ve got.” Taeyong challenged. 

Jaehyun watched in fascination, how he just fell into movement, just like the last times, when it had seemed like the beat was part of him, and dancing came as naturally as breathing to him.

Well, breathing now was an actual effort for Jaehyun, so maybe not the best comparison. 

But as he watched Taeyong, thinking also became an effort, instead, Jaehyun started to gently sway to the distinct beat, too. He hadn’t danced in forever, but some simple moves came naturally. 

Taeyong grinned at him and started matching his own to his, encouraging him to do more, or to try and copy moves he did.

The songs changed, but they were all so similar, you could hardly tell the difference, and Taeyong kept coming up with choreography as he went, and somehow, Jaehyun could keep up.

He knew, they attracted a crowd and Taeyong suddenly leaned into his personal space, while still looking elsewhere, asking:

“That guy over there, with the orange hair, he seems to be alone, and he’s quite tall, I think we should take him for one of us.”

He spoke just loud enough so Jaehyun’s enhanced hearing could pick his words up over the music and kept moving smoothly. Their legs touched on the side, where he was leaning close, and Jaehyun felt the firmness of his thigh against his own. 

“I mean, someone told you that we only take tall men, right? You’re not going to be weird about it, right?” Taeyong’s voice ripped Jaehyun from rejoicing in the closeness of their bodies. His brows were furrowed a little.

“What? No, why should I? If he’s a good choice, we should go for it. Should I do something?” 

Taeyong’s face relaxed, back into his easy smile. He put an arm over Jaehyun’s shoulders, dancing closer now, and Jaehyun took a deep breath, hoping that it’d help him calm down. 

“All you need to do, is follow me.” Taeyong’s voice dropped, lower than he usually talked, as he started to step backwards, dragging Jaehyun along. He couldn’t help, but step between Taeyong’s legs from time to time, their thighs touching and rubbing against each other with how they both kept dancing to the beat, though it became harder to concentrate on it, with the feeling of Taeyong against him so prominent. 

Taeyong had his head turned the direction he was going and expertly moved through the crowd, that readily parted for the two of them, until they had moved about 15 steps in front of the man Taeyong had spotted.

Jaehyun watched, as the other easily caught the bystander’s eyes and told him to stay and watch in that low voice of his. He hadn’t known Taeyong could go this low, and it certainly sounded sexy. 

When he turned back to face him again, there was a confident smirk on his face, and he expected him to move back, returning to the position they had danced in before. But Taeyong had different ideas and kept holding onto him, standing so close, they kept moving against each other.

Jaehyun failed to ignore the closeness, but his body naturally reacted to Taeyong dancing against him, without him thinking about it. Taeyong’s collar bones caught his attention, where the t-shirt revealed them. There was no pulse, but there was a different kind of hunger he felt.

Jaehyun had always had light skin, but Taeyong was pale, too, his neck a pale column of unblemished skin. It was probably soft to touch…

Taeyong never looked his way, focussing on different things around them every other second, but always watching the people who had their eyes on them, so, Jaehyun could watch to his heart’s content, how the earrings sparkles in his ears, when the lighting hit them, or how his hair still bounced, just as fluffy as when they had entered, because they didn’t sweat, even in the heat of the lights and the people. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed. 

Taeyong had pointed out another man he wanted, and the now bewitched two were both still watching, as well as a few others, some girls, some men. No one made a fuzz about it, so Jaehyun didn’t waste any thoughts on it, either, too busy admiring Taeyong. 

 

“It’s getting late.” Taeyong said, leaning close to Jaehyun’s ear. 

“Really?” Jaehyun snapped out of the sphere he had been in, completely lost in the music.

“Yep. Come on, we need to get our dinner, before the sun rises.” He grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~


	5. Chapter 5

Taeyong told the two guys where to meet, before sneaking away from the spotlight, Jaehyun like his shadow, following close behind. 

They slipped into one of the dark backyards, and Jaehyun wondered, if anyone really lived here. There were bars and clubs, and the music was loud even outside on the streets. You probably couldn’t get a good night’s sleep here.

The two men stood around, seemingly confused why they were there, but not planning to leave. They were easy to recognise, and they seemed to recognise Taeyong as well.

“Hi there.” Taeyong chirped and Jaehyun looked around, checking for anyone seeing them. It seemed fine, and there was hardly any light. He knew, his eyes were better now, so a human would not be able to see more than silhouettes of them, if at all.

“Now, you will not make a sound, you will not move, and you will not remember anything that happens from now on, until I tell you so.” Taeyong was still using a lower register than normally, and repeated himself for the other guy.

They both did as they were told, and Jaehyun recognised the weird motionlessness from the first time he had fed. Today, it was even creepier, than it had been three days ago.

Taeyong went from serious and commanding to smiling again.

“Which one do on do you want?”

 

Jaehyun, Taeyong and Kun had walked home together, since Yuta and Ten apparently had both found a partner for the night to go home, or to a hotel, with.

 

The next morning, Jaehyun woke to the sound of the front door, when Ten returned. He needed a moment to recognise his surroundings. He had had a dream, that he was still in the club, dancing with Taeyong. It was like the touch of his legs still lingered, even after waking up.

But he wasn’t in the dark club anymore, but on Kun and Ten’s sofa and there was a distinct uncomfortableness between his legs. Jaehyun sighed, as he shoved his blanket aside, trying to not nudge his morning wood and make it even more uncomfortable. 

Ten waltzed into the living room, looking a general mess, but with a faint smile on.

“Oh, did I wake you up again?” he yelped when he spotted Jaehyun, who had quickly folded his blanket over his lap.

“Yeah, I told you, I’m a light sleeper.” Jaehyun rubbed his neck. He definitely didn’t plan to let Ten know of his… situation. He could just keep sitting on the sofa for now.

“I still feel really bad.” Ten sighed. “Was your night fun? I checked on you once, and saw you both stealing the show, so I figured you’d be fine. I didn’t know you could dance, let alone dance well. I’m so proud of you!” Ten squeaked and jumped on the sofa next to Jaehyun.

“Thanks, I guess?” 

“So, tell me. How far did you two go?” Ten leaned forward with a serious expression.

“We went to the backyard?” Jaehyun offered. Ten’s expression slowly shifted from excited to confused.

“Jaehyunnie, darling, no. I’m not talking about geographic information. I mean with Taeyong.” 

“Well, I went there with Taeyong. We made extra sure there was no one watching, and he bewitched them, so… I got my fangs in and out, yeah, everything went well.” Jaehyun recalled, and Ten stared with a blank expression.

“That’s great, I’m proud of you. But I mean, have you kissed? You looked fucking hot, sexing each other up like that!”

Jaehyun felt something in his head go to emergency alarm and he touched his ears, since they would usually have turned red. “No!” he croaked.

“What? No! It was going so well! What happened?” Ten wailed. Jaehyun was surprised to see the other so invested in the little crush, okay, maybe big crush.

“Er… first of all, Taeyong thinks I’m straight, and…”

“What?” Ten screamed into his ear, and Jaehyun jerked away.

“How? Oh no, Taeyongie is an oblivious idiot. Jaehyunnie! Why didn’t you correct him?” Ten whined.

“Ten, it is eight in the morning and I worked the whole week, can you not scream around?” Kun was suddenly in the door, with an exhausted expression on his face. 

“I’m sorry Kun, does Jaehyun give you a straight vibe? You should be the pro, you’re bi! Would you think he’s into girls, or guys, or both?” Ten asked, ignoring the actual point, and still in a raised voice.

Kun stared at Ten, then at Jaehyun, the resolution to make Ten quiet slowly leaving his eyes, leaving a dead expression.

“You’re quite subtle, Jaehyun, so I would generally assume you’re straight, if I were blind and didn’t see you staring at Taeyong like he was a fairy, or Prince Charming. So…”

“Is it really that obvious?” Jaehyun muttered. Kun sat down on his other side.

“Yes. It’s cute, though, not creepy.”

Jaehyun groaned and buried his face in the blanket on his lap. He felt someone rubbing his back, from the angle it was probably Kun.

“Hey, what’s bothering you?” Kun asked gently.

“Um, I don’t really know, this is all a bit much. I mean, when I grew up, my parents and everyone kept telling us it was unnatural, you know to… like boys? Or even bad, but you all don’t care and that’s really nice, but I have to get used to this.”

Kun was still rubbing his back.

“Oh Jaehyunnie, it’s really neither unnatural, nor bad, you know that, right?” Ten assured and Jaehyun nodded, straightening back up.

“Whoever you like, we’d accept it. If you live for long enough, you realise how pointless it is, to fight over something like this.” Kun added.

“Thanks.” Jaehyun smiled. 

“Now, regarding your situation with Taeyong, I highly recommend…”

Kun interrupted Ten, with a stern glare

“You are not going to recommend anything, Chittaphon.”

“But it’s…”

“No!”

“Kun, will you at least listen to this, they’re never going to…”

“You need to stay out of peoples’ business. Especially when it comes to your self-proclaimed love advice. How should someone, who doesn’t want a relationship himself, give others tips on it?”

“That’s different.”

“Do I need to remind you of him, who shall not be named?” Kun fired and that seemed to shut Ten up for good. Jaehyun wondered who he, who shall not be named, was, but it didn’t seem like a good opportunity to ask.

“I don’t regret that.” 

“Yes, but you and Yuta both are forbidden from giving love advice and you know it!” Kun finished.

 

Jaehyun started digging into the book shelves in the living room. Apparently, the collection was mainly Kun’s, and a lot of it was in Chinese because of that, but there were enough Korean academic books to satisfy Jaehyun’s curiosity. 

His interest was still mainly medicine, and he was sure, he could learn more, that would help him now, that he had to take blood to survive, to make it easier for himself and his victims. 

“I do have things on anatomy, because I thought the same thing as you. I’m afraid it’s all in English, though.” Kun scratched his head and looked at the shelves. 

“Oh, that’s not a problem. I’ve lived in America for four years.” Jaehyun muttered. “I speak English fluently.”

“You mentioned that, sorry I forgot. Well, in that case, these two are my favourite, but this one is a bit more basic, so you might want to start with it and work your way up. Kun stacked three books in his arms with a smile.

“Thank you!” Jaehyun beamed and immediately scanned the backsides. 

“Any time. If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask. I’ll be on the balcony and take care of the plants.” Kun offered. 

 

The first book was relatively easy to understand, but Jaehyun had to admit, he wasn’t used to reading long texts anymore, and the technical terms used, mostly Latin, confused him. But his curiosity was stronger, so he powered through it at snail speed. 

“What are you reading? Erotic novels?” Yuta chirped, grabbing the book off the table, and sitting down where it had laid a second prior. Jaehyun now stared right at his crotch with slight terror.

“The human physiology…. Is this one of Kun’s university books? Are you reading this? Or did Kun force you? Tap twice, if you’re made read things that put even insomniacs to sleep, I’ll rescue you. And this is in English, too, oh my god, torture is no longer legal in South Korea. Kun!” Yuta screamed.

“Um, I asked him to find me this, actually?” Jaehyun tried. Kun was probably still on the balcony, where a rainforest of plants needed his love and attention.

“But why? Why would you do that?” Yuta looked down “Ten has some really hot stuff, great for getting ideas on what to do in the bedroom, if you get bored, if you know what I mean? And it’s in Korean, too, not all of it, obviously, but some.” Yuta winked and finally swung off the table.

“I really don’t need that.” Jaehyun called after him, at least, Yuta had put the book back down.

“Good afternoon, Jaehyun! What are you reading?” a sweet voice chirped from Jaehyun’s right and he immediately felt a smile form on his face.

“Hi Taeyong.”

“Oh, is that anatomy? Can you read this?” Taeyong had slipped in the chair next to Jaehyun and leaned over his arm to see the page.

Jaehyun almost startled back, but he stayed still and nervously chuckled.

“Um, yeah, I’ve lived in the US for four years, so I can.”

“Really? I tried learning English together with Ten, but then I got lazy and he had gotten so good, I couldn’t catch back up.” Taeyong sighed. 

“If you want to, you could practice with me.” Jaehyun carefully suggested and slowly closed the book, now much more interested in Taeyong.

“Really?” Taeyong blinked at him and did the adorable puppy face, he sometimes did. 

“Yeah, sure.”

“That’d be great! How come you’re reading something on anatomy, though?” Taeyong flipped through the first pages curiously.

“I was kinda interested, because of the feeding.”

“Oh… that’s actually really smart. Kun explained the basics to me, but I never bothered going into detail, I mean, it kind of freaks me out. Did you study something like this before?” 

“I wanted to, but I didn’t finish high school. But I’m still interested, so it’s cool to get a book like this. I mainly wanted to know, if there’s any specific point where to bite best, so it’s as comfortable for the donator, but apparently, the way we do it already is a good way, because we feel for the pulse.” Jaehyun explained, encouraged to speak more by how attentively Taeyong was listening.

“Why did you drop out of school, though, if you’re interested?” 

“Um… my parents kicked me out, when I was 18 and stopped paying my tuition. My grades weren’t good enough for a scholar ship, so I didn’t really have a choice.” Jaehyun awkwardly explained. He felt a bit embarrassed, even when Ten had said how it wasn’t his fault.

Taeyong nodded, staring at the table.

“High school is still expensive, isn’t it? It was similar for me, but I knew I wanted to become a dancer, so I didn’t need to graduate.” Taeyong tapped the book, obviously a bit embarrassed as well. “My mom was a performer, too, and there was a lot of expenses… high school was too expensive after a year, so I dropped out, too.”

“Well, you became a really great dancer.” Jaehyun lamely complimented.

“Thanks. But you’re good, too, I was surprised! Did you have fun? Because if you did, we could do it again, maybe? It’s more fun if there’s two.” Taeyong chirped.

“Yes! Yes definitely, I’d like to.” 

“Great! With some more practice, you’ll get really good, I’m sure. Oh, oh, I have the best idea, we could ask Kun to go to Hotshot next time, they have platforms to dance on, those are a lot of fun.” Taeyong clapped his hands in excitement.

Jaehyun wasn’t sure if he was ready to dance on a platform yet, but he wasn’t going to discourage an adorable Taeyong.

“Or maybe Starlight, they have a broad stage where the DJ sits…” Taeyong contemplated. “You should definitely wear a white shirt, because the lights come out better. Did we buy a white shirt? I’m sure we did, right? Or just borrow one.”

“Okay.” 

“Hey, but, if you don’t mind me asking, did your parents really kick you out? I mean, you lived in the US and things like that… you were probably quite well off, right?”

“My dad owns a company that has… or had, I don’t know, I never kept up with it, a joint venture with one in America, that’s why. Money wasn’t something I ever worried over, that’s true. But yeah, they kicked me out, the last words my father told me were ‘If I ever see your face again, or you dare bring more disgrace over the family name, I will not let you go.’” Jaehyun laughed drily.

“That’s…”

“That’s fucking awful! How can he even call himself your father? That’s not what parents are supposed to do!” Yuta stomped into the kitchen, fuming and slamming a few books onto the table.

“If you ever do see him again, please make sure to rip him another, or tell me, and I’ll do it for you.” Yuta slammed his hands on the table.

“Me, too.” Taeyong had his arms crossed. 

Jaehyun glanced between the two, surprised.

“Thanks.”

“Gladly!” Yuta’s face shifted from anger to excitement in the blink of an eye and he waved his hands over the books he had just dropped. “Oh, and look, I collected these for you two, some of my favourites, I wasn’t sure regarding your experience, but these are quite tame and you can learn some basics in theory, which are always good to have. Taeyongie, you, too. And once you’re done with those, you can move on to these ones, they have some mild bondage, not sure about your kinks, Jaehyun, but you’ll be right at home, Taeyongie.” 

Taeyong left out a shriek and picked up the next best book and started repeatedly slapping Yuta right in the face.

“Ow! I’m doing you a favour!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! What are you talking about?” Taeyong screamed and Jaehyun felt very bad for him.

Wait.

Bondage? Had Yuta just implied what he thought he had? Jaehyun wasn’t completely up to date with sexual terms, because of his situation, but this he knew. A sudden wave of heat rushed through his chest and then lower, as he watched Taeyong yell at Yuta, who pretended to be completely innocent. 

No, he wasn’t going there. This was inappropriate!

Jaehyun warily eyed the books still on the table, but didn’t even dare reach for them, he could only imagine, what stories they held.

“Don’t listen to what Yuta said, okay? He’s just making up things to embarrass me.” Taeyong squeaked, bringing Jaehyun back to reality.

“What? Oh, yeah, sure.” Jaehyun nodded but noticed Yuta grinning sneakily. 

“So, my sweet boys, enjoy the read, it’s much better than some abstract pictures of cut open bodies, and for you two, the Korean won’t crack open your heads.”

“I am not touching this! Take it back to Ten’s room! Yuta!” Taeyong had dropped the book he had used as a weapon seconds before, like it was burning his skin, but Yuta waltzed out of the room without sparing them another glance. 

“Oh my god, he’s so embarrassing.” Taeyong muttered.

“He’s a bit bold…” Jaehyun admitted.

“He’s just too much. Anyway, let’s… put this aside. I mean, why would he even make you read this, he’s really too much.” Taeyong shook his head, and Jaehyun wanted to use the opening to explain himself, but Taeyong had opened the anatomy book again and started struggling through the opening word in adorable, broken English, and Jaehyun forgot.

 

“Why is this dented?” Ten held up the book Yuta had gotten beat with, a frown on his face.

Jaehyun looked up from the general biology book he was studying – in Korean this time. Taeyong had recommended it, before leaving. The long sentences were a little less headache inducing in his native language.

“I told Yuta to bring them back without any damage, especially questionable stains, doesn’t this count as damage? How quickly did he even go through them, that he left them here?” Ten muttered, collecting the six books off the kitchen table.

“Um… he didn’t read them, and Taeyong used that as a weapon, so…”

“Do I even want to know?” 

Jaehyun just shrugged and went back to his book.

“Hey, so, if you want to read up on something adult themed, this is actually a really good read, and in Korean, too.” Ten suddenly interrupted again.

Jaehyun touched his ears, before realising they weren’t going to give him away.

“No way, that sneaky bastard, he gave these to you, didn’t he? That’s why Taeyong flipped?” 

“Kind of.”

“Idiot. Taeyong’s really sensitive, when it comes to sexuality, of course, he wouldn’t take it well, if Yuta did it right in front of you.” Ten shook his head and left the kitchen. Jaehyun considered his words for a bit. He noticed the novel Ten had recommended to him was still lying there, innocently.

He wanted to call after the Thai, but what good would that do? And maybe it couldn’t hurt to have a look? Jaehyun had no real life experience and the only porn he had ever looked at, had been back in school. And since Ten had practically forced the book onto him… he pulled it onto the stack of academic books from Kun. He wasn’t going to read it for now, but maybe… later. He put another book on top to mask it. Just in case.

 

Sunday found him out, shopping, with Kun. 

There wasn’t a lot they needed, because all they could consume was drinks, but those needed to be restocked on a regular basis.

“I know, it seems excessive to go to a different district just for tea, but believe me, badly aged Pu Er is so awful, it’s worth the trip.” Kun explained.

Jaehyun stuck close, a bit worriedly looking around. The neighbourhood they were in wasn’t far from where they lived, and it was very familiar. Jaehyun hadn’t been here in four years, thoroughly staying clear of these few streets between his parents’ home and his school. He had considered telling Kun he didn’t want to go here, but his fears seemed unjustified, even to himself. He didn’t want to make a fuzz over nothing.

It wasn’t like his father would materialise in front of him and scream at him.

“I don’t really like tea, to be honest.” 

“I can respect that, but you should really try mine, before you quit tea forever. Most that’s sold these days is cheap quality. I don’t like that either.”

Kun seemed to passionate about his tea, Jaehyun agreed. 

A cup of it wasn’t going to kill him, and Kun seemed so ridiculously happy over him agreeing, it was worth it.

They entered a street that had market stalls ever since the Jungs had moved into the house two streets down, after returning from the US. The market was probably as old as the district. Jaehyun had always spent his pocket money on sweet rice cake on the second one on the right on his way back home after school. They entered from the other side, though, and Kun made a bee line for his tea vendor.

“Ayo, Kun-Kun!” the aunty, in the middle of big bags of what looked like different kinds of tea, loudly called before starting to rattle off in Mandarin that went over Jaehyun’s head.

He glanced down the street. Did Mrs Kwon still have her stall down there? She had always known his name, because he came almost every day. Maybe, she was still there, maybe, he should ask Kun to check.

Kun held a dark brown cup with steaming liquid under his nose. The bitter aroma hit Jaehyun, and he wrinkled his nose.

“You said you’d try it!” Kun chuckled. “Just a small sip is enough, if you really don’t like it, I’ll leave you alone.”

Jaehyun hadn’t known it was going to be so soon, but he readily accepted the cup. The taste wasn’t as strong, as the scent suggested, and not as bitter as he had expected. But it was still much too strong for his liking.

“Not your taste, young man?” the aunty asked, the accent strong in her words.

“Sorry. I don’t drink a lot of tea.” Jaehyun returned the cup to her waiting hands.

“Why not? Tea is so good for you. For your skin, mind, health, stamina. Any young person should drink plenty, but these days, all they drink is coffee. If Pu Er is too strong, we can try a bit softer. I know, you’ll like this, darling.”

 

Jaehyun ended up being forced through a variety of different teas, until he actually liked one. He wasn’t sure, if it was a genuine enjoyment, or just the pressure of finally finishing their visit to the market, though Kun seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, drinking twice as much tea as himself, because he seemed to like every kind without exception.

They purchased a small bag of the approved tea, and Jaehyun hoped it wouldn’t end up sitting on the shelf until it went bad. Kun happily agreed to look, if the sweets stall was still there.

“If you went there after school, did you live close by?” 

“Yeah, my family probably still does, I don’t know. I didn’t come here much, for obvious reasons.” Jaehyun glanced around himself, just in case.

“Yuta told me your father threatened you. We can’t go to the police, obviously, but it’s something you should take seriously. If something were to happen, it’s your right to fight back, or call for help. Any of us would be ready to help you any time, you know?”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind, but I don’t think my father runs around the streets among peasants, so I don’t really have to worry about it. It’s just a hunch.”

Kun eyed him from the side, but Jaehyun distracted himself, when he spotted the booth he had been looking for.

Nothing had changed, it was in the same spot, the same treats lying in front, and Mrs Choi waved her hands, calling for the passing people to get them to buy from her.

“Is that her? We should buy something, don’t you think?”

“But we can’t eat it.” Jaehyun muttered. 

“That hardly matters, come on.” Kun excitedly made his way over, and Mrs Choi spotted him and called how wonderful her candies were.

Jaehyun got over his inhibitions of meeting someone that seemed to have been part of a different life and followed. 

“My rice cakes are better than any you will find at the big chains. Nothing beats freshness and my secret recipe.” Mrs Choi told Kun, before looking at Jaehyun. She was about to say something, but halted, and took a second glance.

“Aigoo. Jaehyun, is that you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. He hadn’t changed that much since 18, sure, he lost some baby fat and filled out his frame better, especially since his turning, but who remembered his face would easily recognise him.

“Hello, Mrs. Choi. We came for rice cakes, of course.” Jaehyun smiled.

“Aigoo, you little rascal, let me see you! How many years has it been? Always coming to get treats and then, you just disappear!” She came from behind the stacks and started patting his shoulders, chest and arms.

“I thought god knows what happened to you! And now you just appear, grown up so much? Aigoo, of course, you can get rice cakes!” she laughed, pinching his cheek. Jaehyun couldn’t shake the smile off his face, as she bagged two different kinds and slipped a few ones in for free on top.

Mrs Choi went on, how business was slowing down, because people just went to grocery stores, instead of the market, which, of course, were nowhere near as good as them. 

Kun watched silently and paid without complaint.

“Make sure to come by often. Such a handsome man buying has to be good for business, not to mention I’m so glad to have you back, darling. The kids usually stop coming after graduating, not in the middle of the month, you little bad boy. I’m sure your parents weren’t happy with you being so rebellious, either, if your sister even came here. Here, have another bonbon, you should eat well! Don’t cause trouble, Jaehyun-Ah.”

“Hyuna came?” Jaehyun asked in surprise.

“She didn’t tell you? Yes, she came and asked if you had bought candy, because you had run away? Such a bad boy, really, you’re not doing that anymore, are you?” Mrs Choi squeezed his cheeks again.

“Oi, Aunty, I want to buy!” someone yelled, and Mrs Choi send them off with another reminder to come back soon.

 

Jaehyun thought about what she had said for the whole way home. Kun had taken a tiny piece of rice cake and was fighting to get it small enough to swallow, which took time and left Jaehyun with quiet to think.

His sister was only a year older than himself, but because he was the only son, she had ended up getting the poorer treatment from their parents, especially their father, who had raised Jaehyun a bit spoilt and in the understanding, that he was to be chairman next.

Jaehyun had never wanted that career, but Hyuna had, so their relationship had been cold and distant all their lives. To think that she had been looking for him seemed unrealistic. Without Jaehyun in the picture, the company had to go to her, or her and her husband, if her father didn’t want an outsider. And if Jaehyun knew one thing, it was that is father didn’t want his precious company in the hands of a stranger he couldn’t influence.

And Jaehyun was positive, he’d rather have his daughter as the manager, than someone without family ties.

Hyuna had been in her final year, gearing up for the College entrance exam, when the chaos had happened. Jaehyun had seen her last for breakfast that day. But they hadn’t talked a word for over a week prior. That’s how their relationship had been, like strangers living under the same roof.

“These are really good. Worth the effort to eat.” Kun complimented and held the bag for Jaehyun to take some, which he did, for old times’ sake.

“Are you thinking about your sister?” Kun asked, when Jaehyun had popped the candy into his mouth.

“How did you know?” Jaehyun startled, almost swallowing the rice cake whole.

“You seemed genuinely surprised she would come to look for you.” Kun explained and Jaehyun nodded.

“I was. We didn’t speak much, we never had a good brother-sister-relationship, because I was younger, but my father planned for me to inherit the company, which she wanted, and I didn’t. I’d have expected her to be glad I was finally out of the picture. She was going to study business, I’m sure she’s gearing up to make a career there, now. Looking back, I really understand her point, and I think this is a good thing, that came out of it. I didn’t want to become chairman, anyway.”

Jaehyun sighed. The cake was sweet on his tongue even after munching on it for longer than normal, but not in an overbearing way, like Taeyong’s iced tea.

“Do you want to see her? Talk it out?” Kun suggested, but Jaehyun shook his head.

“No, I don’t, I mean, I have so many things I don’t know how to explain and so many years have passed. I’d rather not.”

“Okay, if you say so. But if you change your mind, you can still do it, just remember, there’s a certain time frame for everything. I personally needed closure with my family, or it’d likely still bug me today.” Kun gently said, before taking another bite of rice cake.

 

Jaehyun ended up pushing the thoughts over Hyuna aside, and focussed on practicing how to get his fangs in and out, struggle through the anatomy book and do small exercises in English with a very excited Taeyong, which were his favourite thing of the day, of course.

Taeyong had also used his puppy eyes to get the coven to go to the club he waned, even though Ten didn’t like it as much, because of the people coming there, who weren’t his taste, overall there was hardly any time to think about anything else.

He spent most of the night dancing next to Taeyong on the platform, falling into the same rhythm that made him forget about reality as the first time. 

It was so easy to just watch Taeyong and forget about everything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Sooyoung = Park Sooyoung aka Joy of Red Velvet, not Choi Sooyoung of SNSD, who is part of Taeyeon's coven in this universe.~~  
>  Yeah, so I messed up and wrote Joy into Irene's coven in the sequels, so I decided to go ahead and re-write Jaehyun's sister with another bright and fun KPop Idol, that has a pretty smile: HyunA.
> 
> I definitely had Whiplash playing in the back of my head writing parts of this chapter. (I highly recommend the NY KCON live btw, it's lacking Taeil, but it's still great). 
> 
> Thank you for reading~


	6. Chapter 6

“I mean, why couldn’t he just buy it himself, and then even make you come with me? I’m not a child, I could have gone on my own.” Taeyong fumed, stomping down the street a little. It was adorable. 

“I could wait here and just pretend we went together later, if you don’t want me with you.” Jaehyun offered, knowing that Taeyong was just whining because Ten had been Ten and decided he was going to get the face cream he had run out of for him, together with Jaehyun.

He didn’t see the need for moisturiser, if you didn’t age anyway, but Ten begged to differ. 

“What? No, of course I like going with you… I mean… it’s just because Ten had this look on and he’s being stupid.” Taeyong stuttered.

“Okay, I don’t mind going at all.”

So, here they were, running errands, because Ten had been ordered to meet with the girls, instead of Kun, who was busy working.

“I really want to know why Ten had to report for. Nothing happened.” Taeyong muttered.

“Aren’t there any regular check-ups or something? I thought it was routine?” they were in the district where the Seoul International University was. It was a nice neighbourhood, one that Jaehyun hadn’t spent a lot of time in when he was still homeless.

“No, there’s no such thing. They only talk to us, if there’s something going on. So I wonder what it is.” Taeyong muttered. They entered the store that sold Ten’s skin care. The inside was decorated in 90% different shades of pink. Jaehyun didn’t hate pink, but this was a bit much.

“We’re not in trouble, surely?” 

“I don’t think so, there’s no reason why, we always stick to the rules. That’s why I’m so confused.” Taeyong seemed to have been here before, making a bee line for a shelf, before Jaehyun had even gotten the note with the fancy, long name of the cream out of his pocket.

“Ten is really overdoing it with his skin care routine. Who needs fifteen steps in that?” Taeyong muttered, pulling a box out of the vast assortment. It would have probably taken Jaehyun hours to find that. And he might have gone blind from too much bright colours in the meanwhile.

“I mean, would we get wrinkles?” Jaehyun patted his face. It felt pretty wrinkle-free to him.

“No! I mean, I use cream, just because, but Ten says it calms him. Calm him from what? He doesn’t even do anything.” Taeyong whined. 

“Don’t let him hear that.” Jaehyun chuckled, when he suddenly spotted a very familiar figure. He immediate turned, so his face was turned the other direction, hoping the other hadn’t noticed him yet.

Taeyong picked up on his weird behaviour.

“What wrong, Jaehyun?”

“There’s someone I really don’t want to see my face.” Jaehyun explained. Taeyong glanced over his shoulder, obviously trying to figure out who.

“By the door? That could be hard, if we leave. Maybe we should go back and look at some more stuff?” Taeyong suggested. 

He was right, that getting past him without being seen would be difficult, but staying meant, he had to be very careful, so he wouldn’t accidentally turn the wrong way.

“Yeah, maybe look at something. I don’t know what to look at, though? Can you check where he is? I don’t want to turn the wrong way.”

“Over there, face packs, I like those, we can waste time there. Who am I looking for?” Taeyong asked, trying to shield Jaehyun, despite his shorter height and smaller frame. 

“Um, tall? I don’t know, a regular guy, our age?” Jaehyun stuttered.

“I think I know who, there’s not that many men here. Who is he, he can’t be your father, since he’s our age?”

“No. He’s my ex… sort of.” Jaehyun contemplated. They had never properly dated, because that was just something much too dangerous for both of them. 

“Your… ex is a guy?” Taeyong asked, glancing past Jaehyun again, before looking at him with wide eyes.

Oops. 

Well, that could have gone a lot smoother, if Jaehyun for once had used his brain. Too bad it always stopped working around Taeyong.

“Yeah?”

“Oh. I think I misunderstood something there.” Taeyong muttered and looked over Jaehyun’s shoulder again, a grim look on his face.

“I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner.” Jaehyun didn’t quite know what to make of Taeyong’s expression, but he looked a bit angry.

“What? No! I just assumed. He’s really handsome. And tall. And buff.” Taeyong grumbled and his face darkened with every word. 

“Let’s focus on the face masks.” Taeyong suddenly demanded and turned to the shelf, grabbing his arm, so he’d look there, too. Jaehyun had never in his life used a face mask. But they looked cute.

“What do these do?” Jaehyun asked, pulling a sachet out to scan the description.

“It depends. Whatever your skin needs, you can find one. Especially these days, there’s a big variety – as you can see. Since skin problems are a thing of the past, I usually use ones that have a nice scent. Hey, you should choose one, too, and we can do them in front of the TV later, I wanted to show you how to play Mario!” Taeyong bounced excitedly. 

“Sure.” Jaehyun didn’t care much, he’d just do whatever Taeyong suggested, especially, when he looked so cute doing it.

“Great, okay, let’s see. Oh, I want this one, it has honey in it. Or this, no, this is better, do you like water melon? I think it’s cooling.” Taeyong waved the package.

“That sounds fun. Anything you like is fine.” Jaehyun shrugged, making the other giggle.

“Alright, then we’re getting two of these, so we match!” Taeyong pulled another one from the shelf. 

Jaehyun turned to where he remembered the checkout to be. 

“Wait, Jaehyun, I want to get one for Kun! He needs to relax!” Taeyong held him back, and Jaehyun obediently waited for him to pick, muttering something about Kun needing lavender under his breath. Someone tapped his shoulder and he startled back to reality from staring at Taeyong.

“Excuse me?”

Jaehyun turned and wished he hadn’t a second later.

“It’s really you, Jaehyun?”

Taeyong straightened up from mask picking.

“It’s me. Nice to see you again, Jungkook.” Jaehyun stiffly greeted. It couldn’t be more awkward if they tried.

“Yes.” Jaehyun noticed Jungkook glance at Taeyong, who was slowly, but steadily shuffling closer. 

“I never thought I’d see you again. I never got to apologise, after… that. Because you were just gone. They said you transferred abroad, very suddenly. That’s probably my fault, too, isn’t it?” Jungkook scratched his neck. Jaehyun blinked at him in surprise. 

“I… abroad? No, it’s not your fault.” Jaehyun waved him off. He had never expected an apology from him out of all people. He had been a victim just like himself.

“Can we talk? Right now? Please?” Jungkook asked, and Taeyong definitely shoved himself in front of Jaehyun now.

“What about?” he snarled. Jungkook looked at the shorter in surprise. 

“Um, we parted on bad terms. I’d like to set things right.” He explained, but Taeyong kept brisling. “Please?”

Jaehyun put his hand on his shoulder, trying to pacify him, which seemed to work just fine.

“I’m free, if it’s fine with you, Taeyong?” 

Taeyong nodded slowly, obviously still not liking the situation. 

“Thank you! I’ll just have to convince my girlfriend to do the shopping alone.” Jungkook groaned. Jaehyun raised an eyebrow at that. 

“What kind of shopping?” Taeyong asked.

“Pretty much everything. She said she wanted something that gives her lashes more volume, but she’s also looking for a good oil cleanser. And anything she walks into. She’s at soaps currently.” Jaehyun raised his eyebrow higher and Jungkook threw Taeyong that glance again, the questioning one.

“I can do it, you get 20 minutes to talk.” Taeyong offered, still treating Jungkook with cold eyes. 

 

Taeyong had switched the cold demeanour for a bright smile and kind words, when Jungkook introduced him to his girlfriend, who was easily swayed into taking him as her shopping partner. 

The moment, they left the store, Jaehyun felt like he was deer on an open field, with wolves hiding in the woods surrounding it. He hadn’t noticed the store and Taeyong felt like a shield.

They stopped in a side street where trash bins collected the high-rise apartment buildings’ leftovers. It wasn’t nice, but they just wanted to talk and they hadn’t said a single word on their way, both incredibly awkward. 

“So?” Jaehyun started, once he had made sure there was no one around.

“I’m really sorry!” Jungkook dropped into a deep bow, and Jaehyun quickly tried to get him to rise back up again.

“What for even? There’s no need for this!” he stuttered.

“Please, I really needed to get this off my chest. I thought I’d never see you again, could never tell you, how sorry I was. This is such a relief. I thought your parents had hidden you so well in the US, or somewhere else, you’d never set foot back into South Korea.”

Jaehyun wanted to correct him, that he hadn’t been sent away. But he’d have to explain what really had happened, and he was much too embarrassed by that to tell Jungkook.

“Thank you. But I really don’t blame you. I’m sure my parents told yours some very nasty things, too, didn’t they?” 

Jungkook chuckled drily.

“Yes, they did. But I’m… I’m fine now. I date Sana, who is a very sweet girl, and they never mentioned it again.” Jungkook straightened. He had definitely buffed up, no longer the skinny kid he used to be in high school.

He was handsome, there was no denying that, but Jaehyun found himself thinking back to someone with narrower shoulders and skinny arms.

“She doesn’t know?” Jaehyun asked. 

“No. I try my best that no one will ever know again. So, please don’t tell anyone, okay?” 

“I won’t, promise. It’s not my secret to tell.”

“Thank you. It’s not what I want, but it’s the only solution for me right now.” Jungkook’s eyes glassed over for a moment, but he snapped out of it quickly. Jaehyun felt his heart sink. He hadn’t had contact with Jungkook in four years, and his feelings were long gone, but it was awful having to see, that he had to deny what he was, to fit in.

Jaehyun knew once again, how lucky he had been, getting Kun and the others as his coven, who saw things different from how the general public did.

“What are you doing now? Is your father going to let you join Jung enterprise?”

Jaehyun let out a snort. 

“No, but it’s not like I would have wanted to join him anyway, you know that.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m still sorry to hear that. And that guy… Taeyong? You’re together, right? Are you keeping it a secret? Or do you live in the US?”

“You got the wrong idea!” Jaehyun waved his hands. “And I live in Seoul.”

“Oh… your ears didn’t even get red. Sorry, but I thought… he was being very protective, it’s cute. So, I just assumed. Anyway. Thank you for taking the time. I’m glad to see you’re well.” Jungkook smiled. “Maybe, we’ll see each other again, if you live here now.”

 

“So… did the talk go well?” Taeyong swung the small bag from the beauty store back and forth twice as quickly as they were walking.

“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t expect an apology from Jungkook, because it wasn’t really his fault and he got into just as much trouble, but it was still nice.” Jaehyun shrugged.

“So, that girl, Sana, he’s dating her as a beard, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. It’s pressure from his parents, I think.”

“Oh no. That’s actually kind of sad, even though I don’t like him.” Taeyong pouted.

“You don’t? Why?” Jaehyun wasn’t blind, he had seen the obvious dislike he had displayed earlier. But he didn’t know why.

“So, what even happened, that he felt the need to apologise?” Taeyong asked back, not answering the first question.

“Well, like I said, Jungkook and I used to sort of date. It was not much more than a crush, for both of us, I think. I wasn’t in love, I’d say, but it was nice to have someone who felt like me. We were in the same class, and we had a project together, and we kept meeting up for study dates, even after it finished. We sometimes talked a bit more, instead of getting our homework done, and then we started to kiss sometimes and one afternoon, my mom came into the room, while Jungkook was… pretty much sitting on me.

I mean, we were fully dressed, but it was impossible to misunderstand. She started screaming and he eventually left, crying, promising to not show up again. I think that was our break up, but I didn’t even pay it much mind back then, because the situation escalated to the point, that my father threw my out, calling me a disgrace, and abnormality, all that fun.”

Taeyong’s arm nudged against his.

“That’s awful. I didn’t know that was why you were kicked out. I’m sure Jungkook felt responsible for that, since he was involved, too.”

“I think so. I hope he feels relieved, because I really don’t blame him, that he can close that chapter.”

Taeyong started bouncing the bag up and down, glancing at Jaehyun.

“So, you’re not interested in pursuing him again? I mean, his relationship seems for show only, and if you were together for some time, but broken off like that?” 

Jaehyun glanced at Taeyong, who was very busy not looking back.

“No.”

“No? Why not? He’s handsome, tall, buff… he’s really buffy, did you see how his jacket stretched over his arms?” Jaehyun chuckled, as Taeyong gestured to his own arms.

“It was four years ago. I wouldn’t even feel comfortable telling him I was on the streets until recently. And he wasn’t that tall, nor that buff, when I dated him, I don’t care about that.” Jaehyun unlocked the front door of the building Ten and Kun lived in. “But if you’re interested in him, I know where his family lives. Or… used to live, but I don’t think they moved.”

“What?” Taeyong gasped and stopped, almost getting himself locked out, when Jaehyun went inside.

“No! You got the wrong idea! I don’t like him!” Taeyong yelled, rushing after Jaehyun.

So, maybe the dark look and protectiveness had been… jealousy?

 

Ten was already back, when they returned to the flat, a new fashion magazine in his hands. 

“What did they want?” Taeyong asked, almost falling on top of him, the bag still in his hand. 

“Welcome home, yes, I had a good trip to the fucking end of the world, what the hell did you two do, that you took longer than me?” Ten slowly put his magazine down, letting Taeyong squirm in nervousness.

Jaehyun wanted to tell Ten to just spill it, but Ten would most likely make them wait even longer, just because.

“Ten!” Taeyong whined and started shaking the Thai’s arm.

“Fine, fine. Nothing happened. Hyoyeon wants me to choreograph something for her.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Taeyong started shaking Ten with even more force.

“I was so worried, and she just wants a dance?” he was screaming a bit, and Jaehyun wondered, if he should do something, but Ten was faster, freeing himself and rubbing Taeyong’s arm.

“Nothing to worry, Taeyongie.” 

Jaehyun watched, and as he did so, he wondered, if maybe, that wasn’t exactly the truth. Ten’s eyes usually turned up a little, when he smiled, but they were open wide right now. Like he was just trying to calm Taeyong down, and leaving something out, to do so.

 

“I don’t need a face mask. My skin is fine.”

“This is for relaxation, Kun, hold still, I’ll put it on for you!” Kun tried to flee the living room, but Ten, conveniently, was in the door, a big smirk on.

“I agree, some pampering never hurt anyone.” He chirped.

“Especially after a stressful day at work! You earned it! Want me to blow you?” Yuta pushed Kun onto the sofa.

“No, I do not want any sexual favours from you, Yuta, I thought we had agreed on that 50 years ago.”

“I was just offering, because you look… tense.!” He grinned and ran a finger over Kun’s chest. Jaehyun stared at the console controller in his hand, like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

There was some pushing and yelling from Yuta, Taeyong and Kun, which Jaehyun preferred to stay out of. 

Ten minutes later, Kun had a soft pink hair band in, and the lavender face pack on, just like Jaehyun and Taeyong. The music of the game filled the living room, and Jaehyun didn’t even manage to survive for three seconds on the easiest course.

Lucky for him, Taeyong had the patience of an angel, and at 2 am, Jaehyun finally managed to complete the first stage. Yuta had long gone home, claiming he needed beauty sleep, Kun had to wake up early the next day, too, and Ten had left, with twinkling eyes and that smirk, he liked to do.

“Yes! I did it! Oh my god! Finally!” Jaehyun jumped off the sofa, waving his controller, as much as the cord allowed him to.

“Thank you, Taeyong!” Jaehyun wrapped the smaller in a hug, laughing loudly. Taeyong chuckled and patted his back, making him realise what he was doing. He immediately let go and straightened back up.

Luckily, Taeyong seemed unbothered.

“Honestly, if you never played it’s really hard to get the concept. But once you finished one level, the others will come naturally.” he promised, as he switched off the equipment. 

“I think I’ll have sore muscles in my fingers tomorrow.” Jaehyun helped packing up, wrapping the cords tidily. Taeyong liked neat, tidy and clean things, so Jaehyun tried his best to make everything neat, tidy and clean to his best abilities. 

“It’s really late, should I walk you home?” he suggested, glancing outside. He knew what kind of people liked to roam streets at this time. Sure, maybe not in their neighbourhood, but the thought that Taeyong had to walk on his own didn’t sit right with Jaehyun.

“It’s not that far, I’ve walked further distances, I’ll be fine, but thank you.” Taeyong snapped the case shut, in which he had brought the console.

“But since you’re carrying something valuable…” Jaehyun muttered, still worried.

“I mean, if you really want to, you can.” Taeyong grinned “But you have to carry this!”

 

Taeyong had been right, the house his and Yuta’s flat was in was only a three-minute walk down the street, and they were much too brightly lit and well observed for any gangs trying their dirty business on.

“You could have probably gotten here fine on your own. Sorry for overreacting. I’m just… there’s really bad people on the streets. I got worried.” Jaehyun excused himself.

“I know there are. Being a performer, I saw a lot of them, too. In some clubs, there’s illegal business going on behind the scenes, they pay protection money. Some gang members think, they’re entitled to anything, because of their membership, despite being mere worms on the bottom of the hierarchy.” Taeyong snorted.

“Exactly.” Jaehyun nodded, happy how well he seemed to understand the problem.

“Did they ever… do something to you?” Taeyong softly asked.

“I got beaten up a lot.”

“You did? You look like you could throw a punch.” Taeyong got the keys from his pocket, opening the front door.

“No, I really don’t. And before I got turned, I was skin and bones. I never stood a chance.” 

Taeyong called the lift and turned, to look at Jaehyun. The lighting in the hallway was a harsh, cold light, that made imperfections stand out more than normally, but Taeyong still looked beautiful, even with hard shadows on his face.

“Not many would just admit that.” 

Jaehyun shrugged. With Taeyong, he didn’t even think twice about telling the truth. 

“I like that.” Taeyong smiled. Jaehyun stared at his lips. They had such a deep, round cupid’s bow.

Jaehyun internally slapped himself back to reality.

“Um – thanks, I guess?”

“You’re welcome. Thanks for carrying this!”

 

Jaehyun rolled over the sofa, later that night, unable to find a comfortable position.

He had thought about, how meeting Jungkook would go, shortly after starting his life on the streets. Back then, he had wanted to see him again, but was too scared, after everything that had happened. But he had longed to see Jungkook again, hadn’t he?

Jaehyun couldn’t even remember. When had his feelings for him just disappeared? Like a flame, that got suffocated.

The way Taeyong had squared up on Jungkook, who was almost Jaehyun’s height, repeated itself in his head, and a dumb smile crept onto his face. 

It was probably why Jungkook had thought they were a couple. He would feel proud, if someone like Taeyong protected him. There was so much more to him, than just his beautiful face. And he was sure, he was only just scraping on the surface. There was his adorable, sweet side, that came so naturally, but he switched to a confident, charismatic person, the moment he started to dance. This was just another layer of his personality, that Jaehyun had gotten to experience.

And while he was happy to have Taeyong protect him, he also wanted to protect Taeyong in turn.

 

He didn’t get much sleep, and when he heard Kun boiling water in the kitchen, he decided to stop trying.

“Good morning.” Jaehyun rasped, trying to smooth down his hair.

“Oh, you’re up really early, especially considering how long you were up. Do you want some tea? I can make yours.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” Jaehyun folded himself onto the table, rubbing his eyes.

Kun calmly poured the hot water into two mugs, and the kitchen immediately started smelling like tea. 

“So, you told Taeyong about your sexuality?” Kun asked, when he sat down on the table.

Jaehyun took the mug he was offered. “Kind of? We ran into the guy I was with, when my parents found out I was gay, so it was obvious from that. How come you know?” He tried to figure out, when Kun could have been told, since not even 24 hours had passed since the meeting at the cosmetics store.

“Word travels quickly. I know it’s still a difficult topic for you, so I’m very proud you told him.”

“I’m kind of glad I got to clear it up, too.” Jaehyun burned his tongue, when he tried to take a sip.

“Careful, that’s not even done yet, Jaehyunnie.” Kun sighed and took the mug from him, placing it back down on the table.

“Sorry.” Jaehyun lisped around his stinging tongue and Kun chuckled.

“You know, I don’t like giving out love advice, and I don’t like others giving out love advice, but I will say this: I’m very much going to support you two, because I’ve lived for over 400 years, and I know love at first sight is hardly ever wrong, and much rarer than people think.” 

Jaehyun wanted to burn himself on more tea, from embarrassment and happiness alike.

“Thanks. When is this done? Do you take the leaves out? I think I swallowed one earlier.” He stuttered.

“Of course, you take the leaves out, those aren’t for eating, how has no one ever told you this? The art of tea making was sacred when I was young.” Kun complained.

“You’re kind of old, though.”

“Excuse me?”

 

Unfortunately, managing to get through one level of Mario didn’t immediately mean getting through any level, like Jaehyun had expected.

“This is much harder than the other! Ack, no!” Jaehyun groaned and let the controller drop to his lap in frustration.

“Well, you can’t have them all the same, or there wouldn’t be any challenge, once you figure the first one out.” Taeyong grinned.

“You said the others would come naturally.” Jaehyun complained and passed the controller to Taeyong, who started jumping through the obstacles, like they were nothing. He was probably bored of doing the same course over and over and over, but he never said anything, when Jaehyun kept dying within seconds.

“You’re doing much better though. Compared to the first level.” 

“I don’t see it.” Jaehyun muttered. 

“I don’t see it either. Sorry, Jaehyun, you’re really pretty untalented, if I dare say so myself.” Yuta commented from the kitchen, where he was busy mixing different sodas to his personal favourite. He had some odd preferences.

“Thanks.” Jaehyun deadpanned, but he knew Yuta was right.

“No, don’t say that. If you’ve never gamed, it’s really something you have to get used to.”

“Taeyongie, as much as it’s adorable how you try to defend him, I also never gamed before, and it took me an hour to figure it out, and then I broke Ten’s lame records.” 

“Yeah, and since, Ten hates video games, so thanks for that.” Taeyong muttered.

“Really?” 

“Yes. It’s actually why Yuta and I are living together currently. We both like to game, Ten hates it, and Kun only cares for his plants.”

Jaehyun had known they just roomed randomly, but it still seemed like an extremely random reason.

“Guys, I’ll get going, I don’t want to be late, these roots are getting out of hand and if we’re really going to go to another one of your boring dance clubs, god knows I need to be on my best looks, so I get some decent man for the night. I don’t want to have to crawl to Ten to beg for sex, it’s degrading. And I hate topping.” Yuta sighed and waved the bottle with his personal Frankenstein-soda.

Jaehyun looked at Taeyong for help. What on earth was Yuta talking about this time? 

“Have fun.” Taeyong called, before finishing the level. There was a happy music celebrating the success and he passed the controller back to Jaehyun.

“What is he talking about, why Ten?” Jaehyun whispered, when he heard the door close, Yuta out of earshot. It was probably safe to assume his hair took at least as long to dye and cut as Jaehyun’s, so, he’d be gone for some hours.

“Oh, I guess it hasn’t come up yet. Ten and Yuta are really casual about, you know, their partners. If they don’t find someone, they sometimes – um… they sleep with each other.” Taeyong muttered, looking at his nails. 

Jaehyun grabbed his ears instinctively. 

“Oh. That’s quite unexpected.” Jaehyun stuttered. Actually, the more he thought about it, the less surprising it became. “But they’re really good friends?”

“Yeah, definitely. They both strictly separate feelings and sex. I don’t know how, but it works for them. I tried it and failed.”

“You tried it?”

Taeyong stared at him with slight panic, before giggling.

“Er, yeah, a bit, it didn’t work, though.”

Jaehyun nodded slowly, suddenly very aware of his own lack of experience in the field. He wouldn’t even know if it worked for him. 

“Anyway, you can have two tries, because I already did a lot of turns on this, you should have more chances.” Taeyong’s voice was a bit higher than normally, and Jaehyun nodded, still a bit distracted.

The question who Taeyong had tried with crept into his head. Were they nice? Caring? If they were with Taeyong, they should be good people, Taeyong deserved someone as wonderful as himself.

The game tingled, and Jaehyun quickly snapped to attention.

 

As expected, Yuta returned hours later, his hair back to impeccable ash brown, artistically draped over his head.

Jaehyun had somehow reached the level 2 goal and they were struggling on level 3 now, but Yuta reminded him, that he was still officially in training of his vampire abilities, and they settled in the small kitchen to continue the lesson.

“I want you to get your fangs out as quick as possible. Hold for a second and go right back to human appearance.” Yuta instructed.

Jaehyun had gotten faster, but it still took him some seconds to get the shift done, and immense concentration.

Yuta pursed his lips.

“Not fast enough.”

Jaehyun faltered under the verdict. 

“But you can work on that. The execution is good, though, so that’s most important. Good job on that. I want to go on, though. The more important thing to get control over, is un-volunteering shifts. I mentioned it, emotions in particular, can trigger them, and they can be highly inconvenient. The key is, separating the two. There’s no right way to do that, though, it’s different for everyone, and just a feeling, nothing more.

Honestly, this is difficult, and I know you won’t get this in a day, but don’t worry. We’ll get there. Unless you’re as talented as you are for video games. But I hope not.”

“Thanks, that’s very motivational.” Jaehyun deadpanned.

“Quiet, student! First of all, we shall calm the mind.” Yuta breathed out loudly. Jaehyun wasn’t sure if he should follow the example.

“Take a deep breath in, and slowly breathe out, through your nose…”

“Wah!” Someone suddenly yelled from behind him, grabbing his arm.

Jaehyun jerked up and yelped, turning to see what was going on. It was Taeyong grinning cheekily at him.

“This is an example for a situation in which you fang out, which I was talking about.” Yuta peacefully explained.

“You planned this?” Jaehyun asked, his tongue hitting against his fangs. When had those come out?

“Yes, I couldn’t very well tell you, or the reaction would get messed up, obviously.” Yuta shook his head. “So, how did it feel?”

“I didn’t even notice them coming out.” Jaehyun muttered. 

Yuta blinked at him, before commenting “Well, damn, maybe you do have as little talent for this, as for video games.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo Jaehyun's ex is Jungkook (BTS), because all NCT OT18 members make an appearance in "Four is my lucky number" already and I wanted to give him a name, or it would have been very hard to write. I chose him, because the two of them are in the 97-liner Chat that was mentioned a few times, and out of all the members of that chat, I know Jungkook the best. :)
> 
> Thank you for reading~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually was sort of hard to write and I went over it so many times, I don't even know anymore. i hope you enjoy it!

Jaehyun ran his hands through his hair again. It didn’t properly comply with his wishes today, and he wondered, where he had gone wrong. Probably the moment he decided, he could style his own hair. What had he been thinking?

“Oi, you decent? I need the blow dryer, Jaehyunnie!” Ten rattled against the door.

“Yeah, come in.”

“Seriously, why does Taeyong insist we go to these clubs, it’s so much work to pick someone up there.” Ten grumbled and immediately got started on his hair, with much more success than Jaehyun, who just gave up. Maybe he could learn by watching Ten.

“Why, though?”

“Because they’re known as places you come to dance, usually with your friends. The groups of people there are much bigger, which is bad for us, because, you know that we try and pick people that won’t be missed, and someone who comes in a group, will usually stay with them. Not to mention, a ton of couples come there.” Ten sighed.

“But it’s alright, if Taeyongie is happy going there, I can make an extra effort. What happened with your hair, though?”

“I tried styling it?”

“Oh, Jaehyunnie, sweety, no. Let me fix that for you.”

 

Jaehyun was glad, he ended up looking presentable, thanks to Ten’s emergency rescue of his hair, because his jaw almost dropped, when he saw Taeyong, coming down the street. 

Until now, Taeyong had dressed casually, effortlessly, when they had gone out. 

But the straight cut jeans and brand shits were gone, and instead, Taeyong was in a black leather jacket, that opened to reveal an incredibly low-cut, light grey t-shirt and black slacks, that ended above his ankles, and bulky, black shoes.

“You’re drooling.” Ten chuckled, and Jaehyun tried his best to school his expression, before Taeyong could notice. 

“Your hair looks fluffy today.” Taeyong chirped, slipping next to Jaehyun. 

“Thanks?” Jaehyun’s voice squeaked a little, but he wasn’t new to making a fool of himself in front of Taeyong. “Your hair looks… really good!”

Taeyong’s hair was styled up, and out of his face. Jaehyun really wanted to know how it felt. Usually, it was always so fluffy, but today, there wasn’t a single strand out of place. He wanted to run his hands thought it, until it was all messed up, and the fluffy Taeyong back. Not because he looked bad, but because he looked too good like this.

“I hope it does, I spend two hours on this.” Taeyong said, but suddenly started giggling and curling into himself. Jaehyun looked at him in puzzlement, and caught Yuta rolling his eyes.

“That was really worth it. Ten saved mine.” Jaehyun admitted and Taeyong glanced up from where he was doubled over.

“It’s still cute.”

 

Jaehyun had no idea, how this club differed from any others, but he had extremely little experience to compare to, obviously, having only been to one club, that Ten deemed normal.

But he liked the atmosphere. 

“Come on, how about we have a round of shots, before we start this madness? On Kun!” Ten happily suggested.

Taeyong and Yuta started cheering, and Kun protested, following after them. Jaehyun almost got left behind. He felt oddly excited at the prospect of drinking alcohol for the first time.

Jaehyun squeezed himself to the bar, where the rest of the coven were arguing, and Ten was leaned over the bar, flirting with the bartender, like his life depended on it.

Kun seemed unwilling to pay, and Ten was set on still getting the shots for free, without using bewitchment. And what Ten wanted, Ten got.

He beamed proudly, as he passed the small glasses around. Jaehyun looked at his in puzzlement, but Yuta saved him.

“You drink it in one gulp. Swallow quickly, or it gets gross. Like other things you can swallow.” Yuta winked, which Jaehyun ignored at this point. There was no keeping up with his dirty mind.

He was right. The liquid burned in his throat and it tasted like he had disinfected his mouth. That wasn’t exciting. 

Taeyong left out an adorable “ah” after taking his, and Kun collected their glasses responsibly. 

“Shouldn’t we get another?” Taeyong asked, blinking at Yuta, then Ten and then Jaehyun, who was unable to say no in the first place, but luckily not the once deciding anything. He felt a tingling, warm sensation in his stomach – it was probably the alcohol, but Taeyong probably added to it.

“You are not getting another one, and you know it.” Kun tapped Taeyong’s forehead. “You know it takes a few minutes to kick in, and then one shot is more than enough for you. Jaehyun, please don’t drink more, either, since you don’t have experience with it. God, this is like babysitting.” Kun groaned.

“Well, I do want another one, and I don’t want to pay for it, so, later, losers.” Yuta waved and took off.

“Come on, Jaehyun, I love the stage in here, it’s really great, we have to dance on it!” Taeyong grabbed his hand, and who was he to deny him?

 

After the baptism of fire that was dancing on a podium last time, Jaehyun had little inhibitions at marching right onto the stage, even though there were only three girls dancing on it on the side right now.

They were playing remixes that weren’t as hip-hop heavy here, and Taeyong kept bouncing, doing smaller movements, instead of the precise, big ones he usually did.

“Not like that, here.” Taeyong grabbed his hands and started manhandling Jaehyun to move the way he wanted to, giggling while doing so. 

“Not so stiff, Jaehyunnie!” Taeyong laughed and shoved a little harder. Jaehyun felt a rush of excitement at the nick name. How come, Taeyong used it now?

But as Taeyong kept giggling and pushing him around, Jaehyun figured, the alcohol had something to do with it.

He could certainly live with a tipsy Taeyong!

Since a tipsy Taeyong also didn’t bother finding anyone, when it came to choosing possible donors for dinner of the day, Jaehyun got his first try at bewitchment, while Taeyong clung to his arm. 

 

Jaehyun didn’t feel much from the alcohol, and instead enjoyed Taeyong’s slightly sloppy dancing, which involved a lot of hopping around and dragging him different directions and didn’t get them the mesmerised audience they usually had.

Jaehyun didn’t care if others watched or not. He was just as captivated as ever. Taeyong could probably move completely off beat, and he’d still watch happily. Though he was probably unable to miss the rhythm.

 

“Don’t you think it’s really funny, that the bite heals, but the bruise stays? Like… why?” Taeyong giggled, staring at the wrist he had just drunken from.

“It’s a bit weird. At least the bite heals, right?” Jaehyun plucked Taeyong off the human, to let him go back and out of the bewitchment.

“I can let him go, I can do it, I’m not that drunk! I can take care of myself!” Taeyong whined, clinging to Jaehyun’s arm.

“I know you can, but I want to take care of you, so please let me?”

“You’re really such a gentleman, you know?” Taeyong purred and nestled his head against his shoulder. “I tried really hard to impress you tonight, but I ended up still staring at you all night, even though you didn’t try that hard, it’s so unfair, why do you always look so handsome?” 

Jaehyun looked down, surprised at Taeyong’s blunt words. The other blinked but at him, and he suddenly realised how close their faces were. He felt Taeyong’s breath on his face, wondering why he was breathing in the first place, when Jaehyun had dropped the habit right away.

“I think you’re only saying this, because you’re a little drunk.” Jaehyun soothingly explained.

“Yes. But it’s still true!” Taeyong giggled a little, a sound he had heard a lot tonight, cute and soft.

“Alright, thank you, you’re really handsome yourself.” Jaehyun returned.

Taeyong kept snuggling against him, nudging into his side. It felt nice, really nice, and Jaehyun kept staring down at him, taking in every detail, how the white hair fell over his forehead, how the harsh angles in his face still created such a pretty, soft face?

Maybe, it was his mouth, because it had such a soft curl to it? Or the big eyes? 

“You don’t breathe.” Taeyong whispered.

“Hm. Don’t need to. Why do you?” Jaehyun asked back, as another one of Taeyong’s breaths hit his cheek. 

“Habit.” Jaehyun wondered, if Taeyong had gotten closer, or maybe had he come closer? 

Taeyong’s chest was pressed against his arm, but there was no heartbeat. Jaehyun felt like his blood was rushing through his ears, though he knew it wasn’t, while it seemed like the outside world just seemed to come to a stop. 

He could just lean down, maybe 5 cm, and he’d kiss Taeyong. He really wanted to kiss him. And Taeyong kept looking back at him, like he was taking in every detail just as carefully as Jaehyun, so Jaehyun just went through with his idea. Taeyong’s lips tasted a bit like metal, that lingered from the drinking, so Jaehyun’s probably tasted the same. 

Taeyong hummed and started kissing back. Their lips moved against each other gently, like they were both scared to break the moment.

Taeyong was the first one to move, turning himself against Jaehyun’s front, rather than side, and Jaehyun snaked his arm around his waist, to pull him even closer.

The leather of Taeyong’s jacket was soft, well worn, under his hands, moulding over his back, when Jaehyun rubbed over it.

Their kiss stayed an innocent one, neither of them daring to take it further, and they eventually parted, staring at each other again.

“You didn’t breathe while kissing.” Jaehyun muttered and Taeyong started giggling softly.

“I don’t do it, when there’s better things to do.”

“So, you liked it?” Jaehyun needed to hear a confirmation, that they really felt the same. It seemed unbelievable!

“Yeah, I liked it a lot. I like you a lot!” Taeyong nodded “Did you?”.

“Of course, I liked it. And I like you a lot, too.” More than he thought was possible, after only knowing each other for two weeks, Jaehyun mentally added. But he couldn’t find anything wrong with his feelings.

“Do you think Kun freaked out already? Since we’re gone?” Taeyong asked, and just like that, the outside world started turning again, in Jaehyun’s head.

“Do you think he has to little faith in us?” he asked.

Taeyong raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, we better go find him.” Jaehyun agreed. 

 

Finding a relatively short guy, like Kun, in a packed club was a hassle, even with enhanced vision. Jaehyun was tall, but not extraordinarily so, that he could just look over everyone. Instead, they squeezed through the masses, their hands interlaced, holding onto each other tightly.

“He’s there, by the bar, with Ten.” Taeyong chimed it, having spotted him before Jaehyun. 

He wondered why Ten was with Kun, when normally, he’d be long gone with his pick of the night by now.

However, as they got closer, Jaehyun got a hunch as to why. Ten had spotted them, too, and was grinning sneakily.

“Hey. We’re done, Kun.” Taeyong chirped, not letting go of Jaehyun’s hand.

“Are you, now?” Ten purred, making a point of looking at their hands. 

“Yes. How come you are still here?” Jaehyun asked, wanting to take the attention off himself.

“I was about to leave, but then, I saw something very interesting, worth staying.” Ten grinned.

Taeyong seemed undisturbed, downright ignoring Ten’s teasing. “If you’re done, too, can we leave? I’m tired.”

 

Jaehyun brought Taeyong home, ignoring the wolf whistling from Ten, who luckily was shut up by Kun. 

After alcohol, dancing and feeding, Taeyong waddled next to Jaehyun, seemingly already half-asleep, but still holding onto his hand. 

“We’re there. You can let go of me now.” Jaehyun gently told Taeyong, when they stood in the entrance of his and Yuta’s flat.

“Oh.” Taeyong blinked at their hands, and then at Jaehyun. “That’s sad. I don’t wanna!”

Jaehyun chuckled, and gently pulled his hand out of Taeyong’s. 

“You need to sleep!” 

Taeyong yawned at the word and nodded slowly. “Do I get a good-night kiss, then?”

As he looked up through his lashes, a small smile on his sleepy face, Jaehyun would have probably agreed to rob the closest Bank with him. Instead of returning to his criminal way, he leaned down, and softly kissed Taeyong.

 

“What are you doing here?” Ten accused, the moment he stepped out of the bathroom, and found Jaehyun on the sofa, reading through the last chapter of his Anatomy book, while he waited for the bathroom to be free. It was still the first, and he had gotten faster at reading as he went, but he was still struggling.

“I… live here?” Jaehyun looked at him in confusion.

“I know. Why aren’t you at Taeyong’s and fucking each other into next week?” Ten asked, obviously confused. Jaehyun’s eyes widened in shock.

“Ten!” Kun’s voice came from down the flat. 

“Okay, sorry, sorry.” Ten sighed and Jaehyun took a deep breath.

“I mean, you danced around each other for long enough, I can only imagine, how much sexual frustration you’ve worked up. Do you need anything? Lube, condoms? I have a stock, I’ll give you some, even if you’re the one topping, you should be prepared. Do you usually top?”

Jaehyun grabbed his ear on reflex. 

“What?” he whispered.

“Top, as in, you do the fucking?” Ten asked, raising an eyebrow. Jaehyun felt a strong need to run.

“I don’t know…?“

Ten stared at him, and suddenly realisation flashed on his face.

“You’re a virgin?”

“Yeah?” he confirmed, and Ten squeaked, and jumped onto the sofa, almost smashing Jaehyun down.

“Oh my innocent little thing, I should have guessed. Don’t worry, I will personally…”

“…not do anything. Heavens, Chittaphon, stop messing with Jaehyunnie, the poor boy!” Kun came marching into the living room, and removed Ten off Jaehyun, anger on his face.

“But I want to give my tiny baby vampire important information for his sweet, blossoming romance…” 

“Which he doesn’t need, because Taeyong is not going to judge him for a lack of experience.”

“But first times are scary, he needs someone to mentor him.”

“Has he asked you for mentorship?”

Jaehyun slowly scooted off the sofa, feeling a bit like he had, when he was younger, and his parents were fighting over something. He’d rather get his late night shower, because he already knew, who was going to win this. Kun wasn’t someone to mess with.

 

Jaehyun was nervous, when he rang the bell on Yuta’s and Taeyong’s flat the next day. After waking up, he had to recall the entire evening, and everything that had happened, even going so far as to asking Kun, if it had actually happened, or maybe had just been a very vivid dream.

But what now? What was the next step, how did he proceed from here? Jaehyun was at a complete loss, and that left him nervous, in front of the door.

“Yeah?” Yuta croaked through the intercom.

“It’s me.”

The door buzzed without another comment. He was probably hung-over, again. Jaehyun didn’t get, why Yuta kept going overboard, if he felt so miserable every day after, but he didn’t question it. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the reason. It was Yuta, after all, there were some odd thought processes.

Taeyong poked his head out the door, when he heard him approach, his hair still damp from washing, and he beamed, when he spotted Jaehyun, who automatically smiled back.

“Good morning!” Taeyong chirped and Jaehyun just leaned in for a peck on the lips, because he felt like it. 

“I already made a list, what we need. There’s not much… some of Yuta’s fancy sodas ran out.” Taeyong announced, putting his shoes on.

 

Apparently, getting Yuta’s sodas meant going to Anam-Dong, because why would he drink something they could just get from the grocery store?

They walked close, constantly chatting, but not holding hands. Jaehyun wanted to, he yearned to touch Taeyong, now, that he could, but he was too scared, knowing they’d get negative backlash. And he also didn’t know, how Taeyong would feel.

The shop Yuta’s (handmade) lemonade came from, was cute and close to the Korea University campus. There were girls and some couples, sipping from pretty cups. 

“Hi Taeyong! Are you getting more lime and blueberry?” A girl from behind the counter asked, obviously knowing him already. 

“Yes, please.” Taeyong nodded, and pulled Jaehyun closer by his arm, so their sides were touching. It was nice, knowing he wasn’t the only one looking for skin-ship.

They stood to the side, and Jaehyun scanned the crowd in the shop. 

“Oh no, not her.” Taeyong muttered, shuffling closer. Jaehyun perked up, alarmed.

There was a woman, dressed in smart business wear, headed to the counter. Taeyong shrunk into himself, and Jaehyun placed a hand on his back.

The woman noticed them, glancing at them both coldly. She snorted, and looked away, turning her head so harshly her hair whipped. 

“Here you go, do you need anything else today?” the girl from earlier pushed a colourful paper bag over the counter.

“No, thank you.” Taeyong smiled tight lipped, and Jaehyun made sure to stick to his back. They paid, and left, Jaehyun threw another glance at the woman, who was still there.

The moment they were out of the store, Taeyong sighed and straightened back up.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun whispered, patting his back carefully. 

“Yes… no…” Taeyong crumbled back down.

“Hey, hey. Come on, let’s find a quiet place, okay?” he encouraged and gently pushed Taeyong off the busy main street. 

There was a small park with old, rusty exercise equipment, that was deserted. They settled on the bench and Jaehyun carefully placed the lemonade on the ground.

“Sorry.” Taeyong mumbled, not looking up.

“Don’t be. You were uncomfortable, that’s fine.”

“She’s… her name is Seohyun. She belongs to Taeyeon’s coven.” Taeyong explained, still looking down.

“She’s also nicknamed the Grim Reaper by some, who aren’t in friendly term with the girls. She does most of the dirty work, clean up, as they like to call it. The others already told you, if you break their rules, they hardly ever spend much time on a tribunal, but will just execute whoever was in the wrong according to them. A killed vampire falls to ashes. It’s almost impossible to find their leftovers. And most wouldn’t be missed, most of us aren’t in files anymore. No family left, after a few decades.”

The idea of just being erased like that, was a bit scary.

“I – um. I started off my vampire life on a rocky path. I wasn’t like you, I didn’t get turned and lacked a mentor and the other three picked me up right away. I told you, I used to dance wherever I got hired, sometimes the places were quite shady, but money is money. I didn’t usually ask many questions, I just went there, danced, and went back home with the cash.

“I got hired at a night bar, the type where you can go to a room with the girls. I didn’t do that, I never did, but there were some men who still asked. Most backed down, when told no, but not all. Some insisted I had to be selling services, if I danced at that bar. And then, there was this man, who kept coming back, and who was always walking me home, and kept the weirdos away.

“I thought he was genuinely caring for the first days, but it got obvious he was just the same, when he started touching me, asking to come to my room with me. I always turned him down and he never did anything, so I just went with it, thinking he’d lose interest soon, anyway. But when I switched to another club for performance, he followed me there. That’s when it became creepy.

“I stupidly kept accepting the drinks he bought for me. Looking back, he must have made sure to keep giving me his blood, while preparing how to kill me. He ended up not even having to get his hands dirty because I was one of the victims of a stabbing in the club I worked in. My body never made it to the police, because he conveniently collected me, like a doll to add to his collection.

“He kept me at his house, together with his other collectibles, girls and boys, he had found pretty at one point of another and collected, like statues. He was the one feeding us, but always off blood he had collected himself. So, I never learnt how to feed while with him. He kept telling us, that we needed him, that we wouldn’t survive outside, but burn the moment sunlight hit us, and so on. It was all bullshit, but how should we know?

“Well, needless to say, he operated off the girls’ radar, or so he thought, because one night, they came to his house, raiding everything. I fled, but I don’t think anyone else made it, however, I had no idea how the outside world functioned as a vampire, even though it must have been one for months at that point, and kept living in the fear of the sun, and all those mystical things you can use against vampires, which actually don’t work. Not to mention the hunger. That came soon.

“If you don’t feed for long enough, you start losing your mind. And at some point, you don’t care anymore, you will just jump the closest human and drink from them, because else, you’d dry up. It’s your body, wanting to keep you alive. That happened to me, a Blood Frenzy. Seoul wasn’t as busy back then, as it is now, but it was still busy enough, that a lady working at the bank, behind which I was hiding, noticed, that her co-worker had gotten attacked during his smoking break. 

“Now, it was more than stupid luck, that another vampire worked for that bank at that moment, in that exact office, and bewitched her, before she could have called the police. The hunter union is older than time, if they had found out I’d have gotten staked by them.

“Instead, I got dragged to Taeyeon’s coven, which was in the city centre, back then, and home to almost all other covens, because there wasn’t that big a need to disperse yet, because news spread slowly. I didn’t even understand what was happening, so overwhelmed from the blood frenzy and then the trip through the city, until I was in Seohyun’s room.

“She has a room, where she takes vampires, who broke a rule and didn’t fight back too hard when taken in. In that case, she often just goes through with her sentence then and there. She asked me, where I was from, figuring out that I came from the nest they had taken out days prior, and then gone and broken a hand full of rules I had never heard of. She called me a liar, and a traitor, and then said, traitors were executed, without exception.

“I was so scared, but she just told me, as if she was announcing they were out of chocolate cake, without the slightest bit of sentiment. She said I had brought this on myself, not listening to my pleas, that I didn’t know, and that my mother didn’t know where I was, and that I didn’t mean to.

“I… I don’t really remember, but Kun was the one, who saved me, because he was close by and took mercy on my begging. I know she wouldn’t have been swayed, because she just enjoys her job and the power she holds, however… Kun used a trick, one that you cannot ever tell anyone, because if someone found out, Kun’d be in immense trouble. And me, too. All of us, probably.”

Jaehyun nodded, gently encouraging Taeyong to go on by rubbing his back. He swallowed and continued.

“You know bewitchment and how it works on humans. But it can also be used on other vampires, however, it’s much harder and more rules apply. For one, the vampire executing the bewitching has to be older and thus stronger than the one who gets bewitched. So, Kun bewitched her, into telling the girls, she didn’t find a reason to kill me, and sent me off with Kun instead. I still don’t know, how the other eight believed her, but they did, and a week later, the four of us moved from the central house, into the first flat we shared. 

“However, I know she still looks down on me, despite letting me go. She thinks I’m the lowest of the low, for breaking their holy law, and at the same time, I’m always scared she’ll do something and someone will see the bewitchment, that dark circle around the iris, that flashes up, when it kicks in, and that someone will find out, that I’m officially sentenced to death by them, rather than living with Kun.

“I’m scared of her.”

Taeyong’s voice became so small and thin, Jaehyun couldn’t help, but wrap him in a tight hug, trying to make all the pain he must feel go away and replace all the bad memories.

Taeyong held onto his arm, as he choked out a sob. 

“Shh. She’s not here. You’re safe.” Jaehyun whispered, rocking him a bit back and forth. 

He kept soothing Taeyong, until the tears stopped, and his unnecessary breathing was back to a stable, even rhythm. 

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, when Taeyong started squirming.

“Yes. Thank you. You aren’t angry?”

“What? Why? Over what?”

“That… I’m basically a criminal?”

“Well, I stole when I lived on the streets, so I could eat. I’m a criminal just as much.”

“I didn’t know. In that case, I’m glad to have told you.”

“Thank you for telling me. Do you want to get some overly sweetened ice tea?”

“It’s not overly sweetened.” Taeyong whined, and punched his chest, but there was no force behind the hit.

“Yes, it is, and I’m glad I can’t get cavities anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Since this is set in the 90s, I tried my best to keep true to the fashion~


	8. Chapter 8

Since Taeyong had promised a kiss for every cleared level, Jaehyun’s skills at Mario had greatly improved, however, Yuta had gotten so annoyed with them, he had kicked them out on the third day, with the words, that he’d literally throw up, if they were any cuter and he couldn’t handle emotions.

Jaehyun thought that called for a serious talk with a professional, but that was a topic for another day.

“Is this a date? Can his be a date?” Taeyong excitedly asked, as he bounced down the street next to Jaehyun. 

“I don’t know, can dates be anything? Shouldn’t it be a movie or something?” Jaehyun wondered. It was already late in the afternoon, first dates in dramas were usually during the day, if he recalled correctly.

“Of course, they can be anything! As long as both agree it’s a date, it’s a date.” Taeyong chirped.

“In that case, a date would be a lot of fun, right? What do you want to do?”

“Karaoke.” 

 

Taeyong was on the couch of the booth they were in, giggling uncontrollably, as Jaehyun did a Zombie impersonation to the last beats of Thriller. 

It had turned out, Taeyong sang with that sexy deep voice he had used in the club before, and put on a show, almost as fierce as when dancing. Jaehyun had had to stop him, by starting to make it a battle of ridiculousness, because else, his mind would have gone straight down the gutter without return.

Taeyong switched to ‘Total eclipse of the heart’ and missed the first beats, because he was still laughing so much. Jaehyun couldn’t take his eyes off him, and when refrain hit and Taeyong dramatically threw himself against his chest, he leaned down just at the moment Taeyong needed to take a breath of air, and pressed a kiss on his lips.

“Hey, I’m missing the best part!” Taeyong chuckled, but made no move to get the mic back up, instead, he put a hand on Jaehyun’s neck, pulling him down for another kiss.

They had done this a lot, but Jaehyun would never get tired of the kisses – on the lips, cheeks, forehead, hands. However, when Taeyong licked over his lips, he immediately felt like it wasn’t enough anymore. 

Jaehyun had done this before, he easily opened his lips, letting Taeyong lick into his mouth. Taeyong started rubbing small circles on his neck, and Jaehyun snaked his arms around him, holding him tight. He knew, Taeyong was shoving him backwards, but he only realised how much, when his legs hit the small sofa, and the both tumbled onto it.

“Woops, sorry, I didn’t know it was so close.” Taeyong chuckled, raising himself up on his forearms, that were on Jaehyun’s chest.

“Whatever, kiss me more!” Jaehyun pulled his face back down to reconnect their lips.

He started to feel the tell-tale signs of his dick getting hard, when Taeyong started sucking on his tongue, and he tried to turn a little, so he wouldn’t immediately feel it against his hip, however, as he moved, Taeyong softly moaned into the kiss, and Jaehyun felt the other’s hard on against his own hip. Well, seems like he worried over nothing.

He put a hand on Taeyong’s hip, which made him perk up, and break the kiss, looking down with obvious discomfort.

“Sorry, it’s… it’s a natural reaction?” Taeyong muttered, trying to wiggle away, but Jaehyun didn’t let him.

“I’m the same.” He whispered and Taeyong looked down between them, then back up, with a relieved smile.

“That’s good. Wanna do something about it?”

“What? In here?” Jaehyun choked.

“Right, you don’t do this at Karaoke, but at a video place. Okay, can we go and see a movie? I haven’t seen Pocahontas yet.”

 

Jaehyun was at a loss of words but let Taeyong drag him just two houses down the street, where they settled for Forrest Gump, because neither of them had patience for picking. The guy on duty was watching a football game and didn’t even look up for handing them a key.

They tried to get the video to work, bumping against each other, giggling. Jaehyun felt excitement bubbling under his skin, as Taeyong held onto his arm to keep from falling over, when he got pushed.

The cassette started playing and they flopped onto the sofa, that was much bigger than the one in the Karaoke place.

They didn’t even wait for the film to properly start, before Taeyong crawled onto Jaehyun, and they started kissing, quickly getting as heated as they had before they stopped and moved.

Taeyong’s hands tangled into his hair, and Jaehyun steadied him with his hands on his waist. Jaehyun felt him start to push down a little, putting pressure on his crotch, and Jaehyun’s as well in the process. 

It felt good, it felt really good, and Jaehyun felt himself harden under the subtle hip rolls of Taeyong. 

“Is this fine?” he whispered, and Jaehyun huffed a confirmation.

Taeyong grinned, and moved his hands to cradle his face, before leaning down and licking back into his mouth.

Jaehyun started to buck up a little, to get more friction on his dick. He didn’t really know what he was doing, but he felt good, and Taeyong didn’t stop, so it couldn’t be too bad?

“Jaehyunnie? Can we… I don’t want to come in my pants, it’s gross, and Yuta will laugh his ass off.” Taeyong mumbled, halting his movement, much to Jaehyun’s regret.

“I guess not.” Jaehyun muttered.

“Um, so, can we take these off?” Taeyong pulled on Jaehyun’s belt loops. 

“Right.” he swallowed, suddenly a bit nervous. 

“We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.” Taeyong suggested, looking into his eyes.

“No, I do, but I’ve never done this before.” Jaehyun admitted.

“Ah! I didn’t know, that… we really don’t have to, don’t worry.” Taeyong started fiddling with his own shirt, tugging on the sleeves awkwardly. Jaehyun felt himself cool down from where he was previously getting so horny and worked up, his brain stopped working properly.

“I do want to! I just don’t really know what to do!” Jaehyun assured quickly, not wanting to actually watch the film and go home with the frustration, from not getting what he had promised his body, starting to simmer in his guts.

“Okay, good. I really want to, too. It’s not rocket science, I mostly don’t have much of a clue, either. Can I?” Taeyong started plappering, his hands thankfully finding their way back onto Jaehyun’s body.

He nodded and let Taeyong start to work open his jeans. 

His pants ended up on the floor, and Taeyong shed his own there was well, glancing over a bit shily. Jaehyun tried not to stare, and there wasn’t that much light, the TV the only source of light, but with their vampire eyes, it was easy to still see. Taeyong’s legs were skinny, the skin light and smooth, with a soft outline of muscle on his upper thighs.

“Your legs are really pretty!” Jaehyun whispered, as Taeyong kneeled on the sofa again, straddling his thighs.

“They’re just skinny. Yours are so much better, so sexy.” Taeyong trailed a finger over the muscle under his skin, and Jaehyun felt it prickling where they had been.

“Can we kiss some more?” he asked, wanting to feel Taeyong’s lips on his again. He smirked and leaned in, immediately dominating the kiss between the two of them, but Jaehyun was fine with that. Especially, when Taeyong started rolling down his hips again and he got friction on his dick.

Taeyong shifted and scooted back a bit, so there was some distance between them.

“What do you want to do? Hand job?” Taeyong asked, and his voice had started to drop a bit again, which turned Jaehyun on even more.

“Yeah, that sounds easy enough.” Jaehyun agreed. He had plenty of experience jacking himself off. Doing it on someone else couldn’t be that much different, right?

But before he even got to finish his thoughts and wonder, if he’d do well enough, or if he’d end up disappointing, Taeyong had already dropped his hand, and cupped Jaehyun through his underwear, making him throb against him.

A small, involuntary moan left Jaehyun’s lips, and Taeyong smiled up at him, before starting to rub up and down, and then, using his other hand, dipped under the waistband and Jaehyun felt skin on skin. It was similar, and yet so different from when he did it himself. 

Taeyong’s touch was stronger than how Jaehyun would usually go, and he set up a quick pace right along, making Jaehyun groan, as it was just on the edge of too much. It only took a couple of strokes, and he felt his orgasm so close, he huffed out a warning to Taeyong, who shoved his underwear further down, before he was pushed over the edge, coming with a small moan.

Taeyong carefully stroked him through it, before grabbing a tissue from his own discarded pants, and dabbing him off.

“Thanks.” Jaehyun smiled, feeling the happy tiredness after an orgasm rolling over him already. But he couldn’t get tired yet, he still had to repay the favour!

“Dried cum is gross.” Taeyong shrugged. “Was that good?”

“It was really good, thank you.” Jaehyun took his chin, and tilted his head up, pressing a sweet kiss to each corner of his mouth. Taeyong pouted, obviously having expected something else and Jaehyun chuckled.

“Can I try?” Jaehyun asked, letting his hand travel downwards on Taeyong’s body to indicate what he was talking about, and the other nodded eagerly.

Taeyong immediately bucked up, when Jaehyun touched his dick. He pushed aside the underwear, and gently wrapped his fingers around Taeyong, as he would do on himself, who grabbed onto Jaehyun’s shoulder. He stroked up and Taeyong whimpered, which made Jaehyun feel a new spark of want.

Jaehyun knew, he was probably not using enough pressure for Taeyong, as compared to what he was used to, but he didn’t complain, just kept holding onto him, as he started to gradually pick up the pace. He let one finger glide over the tip to collect the precum that had collected, making the slide easier.

“Jaehyun.” He breathed into his ear, his voice raspy and low. He wanted to hear that again, adding just a bit more of a twist in a way he knew made him come faster, and Taeyong seemed to like it, too, as he dug his fingers harder into his shoulders, breathing heavily.

“Is it good?” Jaehyun asked, and Taeyong nodded, before pressing out

“Faster.”

Jaehyun did as he was asked, though he wouldn’t personally enjoy it this quick, Taeyong seemed to like it, and a few seconds later, he came with another whimper.

Jaehyun ended up the one dirty again, but he simply cleaned it up, while Taeyong tried to apologise, while still too worn out to properly do it himself.

“So, that was good, right?” Taeyong asked, voice still breathy. 

“Yes, it was really good.”

Taeyong chuckled and pulled his underwear back up.

“Thank god, I felt so stressed, because it was your first time. We can rub that in with Yuta now.” He giggled and Jaehyun raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, that’s how it is?”

“Yeah.” Taeyong leaned over and pressed a kiss to Jaehyun’s cheek.

 

They actually finished watching the film, before getting properly redressed and leaving. 

Under the cloak of the night, they held hands all the way home.

When he walked home alone from Yuta and Taeyong’s house, Jaehyun found himself staring into the night, a silly little smile on his face, he felt genuine happiness bubble in his stomach.

 

“Aw, aren’t they adorable? I feel like such a proud parent.” Jaehyun looked up from his anatomy book to find Ten wiping an imaginary tear from his eye, a camera in his hand.

“Did you just take a picture?” Taeyong whined, having noticed, too. He and Jaehyun sat on the sofa, with their legs entangled, not having moved in an hour. Taeyong was reading Manga, and Jaehyun was struggling through the anatomy book.

“Yes, of course! You will thank me later, for making sure these kinds of moments are locked in for eternity. Or until the picture falls to dust at least.” Ten turned around himself.

“Great, I probably look like a troll. Not to mention, I’m here reading manga and Jaehyunnie is being smart?” Taeyong complained, trying to belatedly hide the comic titles.

“I’m sure it’s physically impossible for you to look bad, Tyong! And who cares what you’re reading? If you enjoy yourself…” Jaehyun assured.

“I’ll make sure to write on the back, how there always has to be a pretty and a smart person in each relationship.” Ten deadpanned and Taeyong took the volume he had already finished and hit him dead in the face. 

“Nice throw!” Jaehyun complimented with a proud smile, while Ten rubbed his nose.

“Thanks.” Taeyong beamed and let Jaehyun place a sweet kiss on his forehead.

“Oh god, this is nauseating, I get where Yuta is coming from. Bye, guys.” Ten fled the living room, and Jaehyun wondered, if they should just come up with a counter-annoying-attack. They seemed very effective.

“You know, you could probably sign up to do the college entrance exam, if you wanted to. I was never really interested in getting more education, so I never bothered to finish what I didn’t get to earlier, but you’re different.”

Jaehyun stared at the book in his hands.

He hadn’t considered that yet. University was something he had just crossed off his list of dream years ago. But when he thought about it, the desire to learn flamed right back up in his mind.

“You should talk to Kun about it some time.” Taeyong gently suggested and Jaehyun nodded.

“Why are you always so sweet and considerate?” Jaehyun asked, pulling on Taeyong’s arm, so he was close enough for a kiss.

 

Yuta and Ten had put an end to the dance-club spree, after apparently ending up with each other in bed three days ago. Jaehyun didn’t really care, as long as he got Taeyong close, he would happily go to the end of the world for feeding.

Though, it’d probably be hard for the two to find a lay there, too.

Essentially, the club was the same as the others had been. There was loud music, there was a crowd of people, most of them somewhere between tipsy and really drunk, and Taeyong made Jaehyun dance with him, while a small crowd watched with more or less poor concealed fascination.

But, there was one thing different than normally.

“Oh my god, is that Kun with a girl, making out?” Taeyong gasped.

“Where?” Jaehyun immediately spun around, eager to see that. And there he was: Kun, with a girl.

“Holy shit!” 

“Right? Oh my god, we have to drink on that, Jaehyunnie!” Taeyong squeaked. 

Jaehyun wasn’t sure that was such a good idea, but he was kind of excited for Kun. And Taeyong did that adorable puppy face he often did.

So, Jaehyun leaned over the counter and got Taeyong what he wanted, and the same for himself. The drink was sweet, but there was the distinct burn of alcohol, so Jaehyun sipped it slowly. 

Taeyong seemed not to share the caution, and already set his glass back down, when Jaehyun was only half through his.

“Ah, I love this! Come on, let’s go annoy Ten.” Taeyong chirped. 

Jaehyun wanted to stop him, but he had already taken off and all he could do was rush after him, hoping he didn’t immediately do any damage.

Luckily, Taeyong never made it to Ten, because he got distracted by someone, he wanted to suggest as dinner. And then, Taeyong drank the rest of Jaehyun’s cocktail and insisted on more dancing, which had turned to cute, bouncy drunk-Taeyong dancing some time ago.

 

“I don’t know how I turned out as babysitter, but I know for sure Taeyong is drunk, and you look drunk, too, oh my god, how did this happen?” Ten whined. 

Was he drunk? They had had more cocktails, and then they had almost messed up with feeding, but it was fine. 

“Aw, Tennie! I was looking for you earlier!” Taeyong chirped, hanging himself over Jaehyun, who stumbled a little. Wow, gravity was strange today.

“Okay, kids, we’re going home now.” 

“But I don’t wanna!” Taeyong whined. “I wanna dance some more!”

“Sweety, listen it’s almost 6 in the morning and I’m sorta sorry I didn’t check on you earlier, but the guy I was making out with was really hot, and I was also distracted because Kun getting some? Hello! Anyway, it’s definitely bed time, my dear baby vampires.”

“But Tennie, the music is still good! We can still dance some.” Taeyong whined, tugging on Jaehyun’s arm.

“Come on, Tyong, it’s actually late. Let’s go home.” 

“Okay.” 

Ten stared at them for a second but blinked himself out of a tiny stupor. “Good, well now that we know there’s someone who can control drunk Taeyong, let’s leave.”

 

The next morning wasn’t pretty. 

Well, technically, it was noon, and Jaehyun woke up with Taeyong wrapped around his waist, which was wonderful, but the moment he moved, it felt like his skull got split open.

He couldn’t help but groan a little. Was this how Yuta always felt? Yesterday had been fun, but this was not worth it. Jaehyun rolled to the side and pulled Taeyong closer, nuzzling against him. He couldn’t remember when they had ended up here, and why Taeyong was here, too.

But Taeyong breathed softly and was warm and while he was a bit skinny, he was still squishy enough to cuddle. 

Jaehyun dozed back off, until the door rang, and Taeyong woke up, too. It felt like his brain was working its way out of his head now. Could everyone just be quiet for now? 

“Oh god.” Jaehyun groaned, squeezing Taeyong tighter, in hopes of making the pain go away, but it didn’t. 

“Good morning.” Taeyong rasped. 

“Morning.” 

“Hello, rise and shine my sweethearts!” Yuta hollered. Jaehyun wanted to die. Or for Yuta to die. Whatever, just something to make the noise go away.

“Ahaha, someone has a hangover, aw, Jaehyunnie, the sweet revenge!” Yuta was way too loud. Jaehyun shoved his head under Taeyong’s arm.

“Yuta, don’t be mean. You know how bad a hangover is.” Taeyong protested, and Jaehyun felt very grateful.

Ten had mercy on him and gave him a double pain killer.

Kun also returned, facing the teasing of Ten, Yuta and Taeyong. Jaehyun felt a bit bad, but it was too exhausting to do anything to help him, and Taeyong’s lap was really comfortable, and at least he wasn’t the target anymore.

 

“Okay, try this one.” Yuta held a cup under Jaehyun’s nose. The hang-over had worn off by the previous evening, and with fresh energy, he had agreed to go check out new fancy cafes, from which Yuta got more overpriced lemonade. 

In his opinion, the Japanese had a bit of a problem, possibly an unhealthy obsession with sugary drinks. And it also surprised him, that Taeyong had been unwilling to tag along, when he was constantly drinking stuff like this.

But it was fine. Jaehyun happily helped him out.

He sipped some of the green, sparkling liquid, but regretted it a second later.

“What is that?” Jaehyun wheezed. Yuta held up a slip of paper, scanning for the ingredients.

“So, this is spinach, kale, carrots, ginger… the rest is irrelevant. How is it? Great, right? I think this would work really well with a sweet orange.”

Jaehyun gaped at him and slowly set down the plastic cup.

Sudden realisation why Taeyong had stayed at home hit him. Too late for that now.

“Oh, you don’t like it. Okay, that’s fine. I’ll still take some of it.” He turned to the counter and waved for the girl, named Sony, that had been serving them until now.

“I’ll take one of the Jungle Paradise, thank you.” Yuta sweetly smiled, and Sony nodded, collecting their cups.

“Is there anything else I can get you hooked on? Some cookies, perhaps? We make the best in the area, I promise.”

“Ah, no, thank you, but I have to watch my diet. The lemonades will be all. Oh, and can you give me separate bags?”

Jaehyun glanced at Yuta. He was buying sugary drinks and tried to sell her that he was on a diet where he couldn’t have cookies? 

“Sure, no problem!” Sony apparently bought it, or she was just done with him, but had to keep up a smile. She disappeared to get the order, leaving them standing on the counter.

“Ah, isn’t she a sweet heart? Good customer service is the key to getting me as a returning customer. Oh, and not serve grim reapers.” Yuta smiled dangerously. 

“You don’t buy from there anymore?” Jaehyun knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Of course not. There’s so many places to choose from, I am not going to go somewhere, where I could possibly encounter that woman.”

“Sorry to bother you.” Jaehyun looked over, where Sony leaned over the counter.

“I was just wondering, did I catch your name right, is it Jaehyun?” she looked straight at him. Jaehyun nodded, unsure why she was asking. It wasn’t him buying anything here, but Yuta. Not to mention it was a bit unprofessional to listen in on your customers, wasn’t it?

Sony gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. 

“No way!”

“Yes way, I just don’t see how this is relevant to my purchase.” Yuta stepped into her small freak out.

“It’s not, oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she scrambled away from the counter, probably to get the bottles of lemonade ready.

“What was that?” Yuta turned to Jaehyun.

“I wish I knew…” Jaehyun was at a loss as well. He didn’t even know this person.

Did he?

Sony returned, this time with three bags.

“Here you go, I’m so sorry for that. How rude of me. I was just surprised to see you again. But you don’t even seem to remember me, which makes this even more embarrassing. I’m your sister’s best friend, remember? I mean, we didn’t see each other much, but you didn’t change that much, so I recognised you, Jaehyun.”

He still came up blank. There hadn’t been a lot of friends, who ever made it to the stage of being invited to their house, and since he already spend so little time with his sister…

“Oh, my name’s Sohyun. I just go by Sony here, it works better with the concept.” She gestured around the store, that was heavily inspired by American diners. 

Sohyun? Yes! Jaehyun did know that name. Looking at her, now, that he had her name, her face came back up from memories.

“Yes, I remember you. Sorry, I mean…”

“Don’t sweat it. I know I know we didn’t see each other much. I also didn’t think I’d ever see you again, to be honest. But it’s nice to see you well. Hyuna will be over the moon!”

Jaehyun took a step back at the mention of her name. Yuta was still at the counter, listening. 

“Ah, I don’t think so. But it was nice meeting you.” Jaehyun nervously chuckled, like his sister could just pop up in front of him, if you said her name three times.

“Don’t be silly, of course she will. She’s the only one actually still looking for you. Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your parents.” Sohyun held her mouth shut, eyes wide.

“No, no, please, go ahead, we encourage it!” Yuta waved for her to go on.

“You… do?” Sohyun lowered her hand and looked at Yuta in surprise.

“Of course! Why should be protect those asshats?”

She stared at Yuta in open surprise now, and Jaehyun would have laughed, if his mood had been better.

“That’s… um yeah. But Jaehyun, really, Hyuna is still looking for you, she’ll...”

“Well, tell her to stop looking, because I’m just fine. She should focus on important things.” 

“Don’t you think you’re important to her?” Sohyun asked, crossing her arms. “Because you are and if you knew how much trouble she went through, you’d maybe be a bit more grateful!”

“Sony! There’s a lady who needs refill over at table five. How about you go back to work.” Someone called, and Sohyun dropped her angry glare for a police smile.

“I will tell her, that you’re fine, but I really hope you change your mind and meet her. She’s your sister, after all.”

 

Jaehyun knew he was being dramatic, when he all but stomped down the street. But he was annoyed. Who was that woman to tell him what to do? 

“You know, I understand, if you don’t want to give her another chance, but you need to understand, that you have eternity to think things over. Let someone who left his home country and family in a tantrum, only to get stuck in a country where people hated him for decades, because of the history of his people, tell you: looking at things rationally will save you a lot of pain.” Yuta gently nudged Jaehyun’s arm.

He turned, to look at the shorter in surprise. 

This was the first time hearing about his hardships. But it made sense. There still were a lot of people, who hated Japanese, because of the history, but it was getting better.

“I didn’t know that. Sorry.” Jaehyun muttered, feeling like a brat all out of sudden.

“You couldn’t. It’s my own decision and I have come to terms with it. But if I had the chance to go back and talk things out with my family, I would in the blink of an eye. I’m just telling you, so you can learn from my experience and make your own decisions with this in mind.” Yuta explained, sounding much too light hearted for such a serious topic.

“Thank you.” Jaehyun looked down the street, without really seeing. “But I can’t think of any reason, why she would really care. I’m scared she’ll just use the opportunity to degrade me.”

“If she’s still looking for you, maybe, you’re not giving her enough credit, though. It’s a lot of work, just to be petty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~


	9. Chapter 9

“What are you thinking about?” Taeyong played with the longer strands of Jaehyun’s hair. They were on his bed, where they had ultimately ended up after an intense make-out-session.

He had to admit, a bed was better for cuddling, than the sofa he slept on, and he felt like not moving for the next year or so, just lying there with Taeyong. Coming always left him lazy.

“Nothing much. Just how nice this is.” Jaehyun smiled and closed his eyes, enjoying the small tugs on his hair.

“I see. I’ll braid this, okay?”

“Yeah sure.” 

Taeyong hummed and started working on his hair.

“I was thinking about the run in with that friend of your sister, you told me about.”

“Hm? Sohyun?”

“Yes. I mean, have you not thought about it?”

Had he? 

“A bit. I still don’t know what to do, though.”

“I get that. You can take your time. After getting turned, I didn’t see my mom for months, because, obviously, I was locked up in a pychopath’s house.”

Taeyong seemed lost in thoughts, and Jaehyun gently rubbed his thigh.

“If you want to listen, I’ll tell you about my family. It’s not a glamorous story, though.” Taeyong muttered.

“I’d still love to hear it.” Jaehyun assured. He smiled to encourage him, and Taeyong nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Okay. I told you, my mom raised me alone, but the reason why is not a divorce, or my father dying early or something. It’s actually that I don’t even know who he was, and neither did my mom. She worked as a performer, like me, but she also offered more services, you know? One of her clients got her pregnant. After that, she stopped offering the services, while I was little, always struggling to make ends meet with just dancing jobs. She was always there for me, and tried her hardest that I wouldn’t notice and always had everything I needed.

“I have really good memories of that. I think it was around the time I hit puberty, that she started drinking. At first, she managed to hide it, and she kept telling me, it wasn’t serious when I did notice. But it became apparent soon enough, because it quickly got out of hand. She started with Soju in the morning and didn’t even manage to put breakfast on the table. I was fifteen back then.

“I did everything I could to support her, I took care of the household and tried to work, but she insisted I stay in school, so I wouldn’t end up like her. I sometimes took her money and hid it, so she wouldn’t spend it all and we’d have nothing to eat and not be able to pay the bills. But during high school, it just didn’t work anymore. That’s why I dropped out, to work myself, to pay for rent and all other expenses. 

“She still told me how much she loved me, how sorry she was, and I never blamed her. It’s a wicked circle she was in and didn’t have the strength to break. I don’t know how much of it had to do with her working environment. But I don’t think she experienced much love growing up. Her parents fell victims to the war and being a performer at night clubs is emotionally draining, even more so, when you do additional services.

“It’s… it’s hard seeing your parent like that. But just disappearing and not seeing her anymore was even worse. I was so scared what would happen. I took care of almost everything. She might get thrown out of the flat, get into trouble at work, or maybe even worse. Sure, I had my own problems, but the moment I could, when I was safe with Kun and the others, I checked on her.

“Well, it turned out, my disappearance seemed to have been a turning point for her, to get her life back together. I can’t tell you, how happy I was to see her, especially see her so well. I honestly made up for all the sadness I had ever felt regarding the situation.”

Taeyong smiled so genuinely, Jaehyun’s couldn’t help but squeeze him again.

“What happened then?”

“Well, honestly, the end wasn’t as happy, as I would have expected. Or as I wished for.” Taeyong wrapped a leg over Jaehyun.

“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.”

“It was years ago. I can talk about it now. Drugs leave permanent damage to a human, even after you quit. You don’t just erase that damage. She got lung cancer from her smoking, which she never even dropped in the first place, and because she was overall not very healthy and didn’t go to check-ups, no one noticed, until the cancer had damaged her lungs so badly and spread so much, she didn’t even have a lot of time left, never mind any chanced to beat it.

“The good thing about this was, that I could tell her goodbye, like it should be. It shouldn’t be the parents moaning their children, and if you’re a vampire, you will have to disappear at some point, if you don’t age. I only had a little under two years, but I think I was still lucky in the end, that I got my mom back, my real mom, at least for those few years.

“I really treasure these memories. Sure, I’m sad she’s gone, but she was bound to die before me. At least, she had me all her life.”

Taeyong smiled and Jaehyun almost started crying from his story.

“I don’t even know what to say.” He muttered.

“Don’t say anything, I don’t expect you to. I just wanted to let you know.”

“I feel like a brat, for ignoring my sister. I felt the same when Yuta told me, he regrets having parted with his family on bad terms, too.”

“I wouldn’t go so far, as to call you that. But I do think you might end up like him. Even if you think you know your sister’s motives, and how she feels, you don’t have confirmation on that. My mom is a prime example of how people can change, when they lose what they didn’t know they loved so much.”

“But I never missed her.”

“You had other problems, didn’t you? There were things more important to think about for you, but for her, she only had to focus on you being gone, and how she felt about that. That’s why she likely invested more time on it and came to a different conclusion. If you had stayed in your regular environment, with your family and nothing had changed, but the fact that she was suddenly gone, you might have ended up missing her, too.”

Thinking about it like that, made Jaehyun re-evaluate his judgement.

“I never thought about it like that.”

“Well, that’s why talking about things is important, trying different angles and opinions.”

“You always say, you’re not smart, but really, I feel like the dumb one between the two of us.” Jaehyun chuckled, and tackled Taeyong for a kiss.

 

Jaehyun had decided to look for Sohyun on a whim. After talking with Taeyong, he had decided he wanted to listen to what Hyuna had to say, if she wanted to talk to him, but he had then tried to find excuses to never put the plan into action.

Until today. 

Maybe, it wasn’t by chance, that Ten needed to desperately go to this exact store, that happened to be two doors down from the place where Sohyun worked, but Jaehyun wasn’t going to suspect him.

Okay, maybe he did suspect him, heavily and rightfully so.

But it was also the push in the right direction he had needed.

The bells chimed happily, as he entered, and to his surprise and relief, she was working today, serving a customer close to the door. Jaehyun wanted until she was done to interrupt her.

“Hi, Sohyun, could I talk to you for a second?”

“Oh? Jaehyun?” she raised her eyebrows, before checking her watch.

“I’m surprised to see you here, I honestly didn’t expect you to return, after the last time. I can take my 15-minute break, I’ll just check with my manager.”

“Thank you.”

 

Sohyun clocked out and left her apron in the back, before dragging him to the table in the farthest corner.

“So?” She folded her hands in front of her, like she was interviewing him.

“I’m sorry for being rude when I last came.” Jaehyun bowed his head.

“Apology accepted. I still told Hyuna I met you, by the way. I think she deserves to know, and I left out, that you didn’t want to see her, because she does not deserve that, after all that she’s been through for you.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected her to do anything for me. So, I had a hard time believing it.”

“So, you wouldn’t have tried to find her, if she suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth, after having been your parents’ little favourite for 17 years? No?”

Jaehyun didn’t miss her sharp choice of words, but decided not to raise to the bait. If Sohyun was angry, he understood. She was Hyuna’s friend, after all.

“I never thought about it. But honestly: no. I don’t think I would have, if I were her. That’s why I was surprised.”

“Wow, you’re really doing her dirty. I get you didn’t like her much, because she wanted, what you got handed on a silver platter, even when you never appreciated and wanted it yourself, but this is low.” Sohyun sneered.

“I didn’t have much time to think about Hyuna, when my parents kicked me out with no money or anything, and I had to struggle to actually survive. So yeah, I didn’t think much about the broken relationship I had with other family members that I thought I’d never see again.” Jaehyun hissed, finally past the point of ignoring the taunting.

Sohyun furrowed her brows “What are you talking about? You got kicked out? That’s not what I heard. You ran away, that’s what your parents said, what Hyuna said.”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. Wonderful. They washed their hands clean. It wasn’t even surprising.

“That’s not true. Where to should I have run, that they couldn’t find me? They kicked me out.”

It seemed like Sohyun’s brain was working 100 miles an hour.

“But… I mean, okay, it makes sense, that they didn’t really bother looking for you. That was weird. But why, why would they kick you out? Jaehyun, honestly, your father didn’t even try to mask the fact you were his favourite child, and your mother rolled with it. I know, you didn’t want to inherit the company, but really? They wouldn’t kick you out over that.”

“I don’t see how this is relevant.” Jaehyun quickly back from his aggressive tactic. 

“If you want people to understand why, you have to explain it to them, I thought that was a given.” 

“I don’t remember wanting to explain anything to you.” Jaehyun shot back. Sohyun frowned.

Before things between them could escalate, they was a small yelp, and they both looked up from glaring at each other.

“Jaehyun? Oh my god! It’s really you!”

It took Jaehyun a second, but it was obvious who this was. She hadn’t changed much, her face matured a little, but that was all. It was Hyuna. But why was she here?

Jaehyun stiffened, unsure what to do. But a second later, she was already around his neck, hugging him.

“I didn’t believe Sohyun, when she called. But it’s really you!”

Hyuna held him at an arm’s distance, inspecting him.

“You look well.”

“You called her?” Jaehyun glanced at Sohyun, who still looked more than unimpressed.

“Sure did. After the stunt you pulled last time, I wanted to make sure she actually got the chance to see you.”

“What stunt?” Hyuna asked, slowly sitting down next to Jaehyun.

“We were just discussing it. Jaehyun’s point of things is very different, I’d say.” Sohyun vaguely explained.

“Well, I’d like to hear that, too. And I’d like to know, why you ignored every poster, every public announcement, and everything we and I tried to get you to come back home.”

Jaehyun crossed his arms. He had actually never seen any of them, but even if he had: he wouldn’t have followed them, knowing the threat of his father.

“Dad and Mom didn’t actually want me back. They made that very, unmistakably, clear, when they kicked me out.” 

Hyuna reacted similarly to Sohyun. Her brows furrowed in confusion, as she seemed to look for an explanation in her head.

“What?”

“I know they told you I ran away, but seriously: why should I do that? And where to, our grandparents? I’m sure, they looked there. Dad told me to never come back, or he wasn’t going to show any mercy, mercy being chasing me out. So, I didn’t. Sorry, I wasn’t eager to get myself mysterious poisoning or something of the likes.”

“Okay, wait, you’re going too far, Jaehyun. Even if you had a fight with mom and dad, I’m sure it was something said in the heat of the moment. You’re overreacting. What did you even argue over?”

“I’m quite sure I’m not overreacting, since you weren’t there, you can’t judge.”

“Well, of course, I can’t if you don’t tell me what it was about.” Hyuna sighed. Jaehyun glared at the table, like it was responsible and glaring hard enough would resolve things.

Silence spread over the table, until someone called for Sony to return from her break and Hyuna moved, to sit opposite of him.

“Okay, if you don’t want to tell me, fine. I get it. But at least tell me where you’ve been for all these years?”

“I lived on the streets, there wasn’t really anywhere else for me to go, was there?” Jaehyun snarled and Hyuna winced back.

“You were… homeless?” she asked, like it wasn’t already obvious. 

“Yes.”

“But… I don’t get it, you lived on the streets for how long? Instead of trying to patch things up with mom and dad? I get you didn’t want to become chairman, but it wasn’t like you had to become that tomorrow. At least finish high school…”

“Oh, you don’t think I would have loved to finish high school? Well, let me tell you, I tried to, but turned out, I got pulled out. Without money, what should I do? I was 17 at the time. And I was scared.”

“They didn’t tell me.” Hyuna muttered.

“Obviously.” Jaehyun cut in.

“Be quiet for a minute, will you? This is a lot to take in, okay? And while it sounds somewhat believable, it’s still insane to think they’d go that far.” Hyuna’s voice was strained.

Jaehyun felt himself get worked up. He wasn’t here to discuss whether or not this had actually happened. If she didn’t want to believe him, fine. Great. He should have guessed there was a hook to the concern Hyuna had shown.

“Just tell my why, Jaehyun. Please!” 

“Should I tell you, just so you can take their side and live with them happily ever after? I’m glad for you, that you’ll get the company. You deserve it, because you are actually passionate for it. But let’s not pretend you really care that I was gone.” Jaehyun hissed. He felt his fangs drop in his mouth, as his anger got out of control in his gut.

“How can you put these words into my mouth? I did care, of course I did, after all, you’re still my younger brother!”

This was bad. He tried to recall what Yuta had tried to teach him and make them go away, and made sure not to look at Hyuna, lest she’d see his red eyes.

“Well, in that case, you can just believe me.” Jaehyun rasped out.

“Fine. But listen to my side, too: I was confused at first, why you’d run away, and I didn’t really care, thinking you’d come back soon, anyway. After two days, the police were informed, and it started to get weird. But I thought mom and dad were doing everything in their power to find you.

“But after two months or so, it turned out, they didn’t. I looked into it, and found they didn’t even do the bare minimum, only made sure you weren’t with any relatives or friends. But no private investigation. And it was like they just erased you from the family. They told people you were abroad, telling me no one needed to think bad of the family. 

“And, yes, dad started to tell me about business, got interested in my grades, my plans for university, all that stuff, and I liked it. But I still worried over you. I even checked with the sweets vendor you always went to, but she also hadn’t seen you. I’m not going to let me tell you, that I don’t care, when I was the one making the most effort to figure out where you had gone. If mom and dad threw you out, okay, I can believe that, it explains why they didn’t really look for you, and why you became a shadow. But that’s them, and not me.”

Jaehyun still stared at the table. 

It was true, Hyuna was her own person. And she couldn’t have known the truth, if no one told her. On the other hand, she was her parents’ daughter. If he told her, she would probably take their side. Not wanting someone ‘like Jaehyun’ in their family.

But wasn’t it better to tell her, see her reaction? If she really was different, she’d accept him, believe him, and it’d be fine. If not, at least they had spoken about everything there was to say.

“Okay, I get that. Sorry, I should give you the benefit of the doubt.” Jaehyun tried to calm himself, so he could get rid of his fangs.

“Yes. You should. I get you’d think I was just happy you were gone, because you were the one in my way. But honestly? Sure, I was jealous, that you were the main character in dad’s head, but in the end, you didn’t want the career he had planned out for you, so I just needed to wait, until it blew up and then walk into my rightful place. No need for you to disappear off the face of the earth.”

“Oh. Really?” Jaehyun felt a wave of calm. He held onto that and took a deep breath.

“Yes. So, you can quit the cold treatment and actually look at me?”

Jaehyun travelled his tongue over his teeth. Blunt.

“Yes, sorry.” He wondered, if Yuta would congratulate him on this personal record, or if he’d nag, because it was still much too slow. Actually, it shouldn’t even have happened in the first place. But Hyuna hadn’t noticed.

“Urgh, seriously, I didn’t mean to fight with you the moment we met.” Hyuna sighed.

“I didn’t expect to meet you again at all.” 

“Yeah, I got that. I’m still curious what you did, for dad to flip and proceed to erase you from history?”

Jaehyun’s hand was trembling a little and he took an extra deep breath. 

“I’m gay.” 

The moment he had said it, he felt both endlessly relieved, and forgot how to breathe. 

Hyuna’s mouth opened, like she was about to say something, but then she closed it. There were a few more beats of silence, and Jaehyun started wondering, what she was thinking. Her face was passive, unreadable. Was this good? Or bad?

“If you have a problem with that and understand that our parents would rather chase me out the house, than anyone ever finding out and bringing so called shame over the family, it’s fine. Just tell me.”

“What? No! I do not have a problem with that. I mean… I never… it’s a bit… but for mom and dad to throw you out over that? I don’t really know much about it, but it’s trendy in the US, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a trend, that sounds like you just stand up one day and say: I like guys now, like you would with choosing to wear a pair of shoes.” Jaehyun sighed.

“I didn’t mean it that way, sorry, that was dumb.” Hyuna immediately recoiled. “Look, I don’t know a lot about that, obviously, but I wouldn’t judge you unfairly because you like men. I know a lot of people think it’s bad, but I really don’t think like that!”

“Okay. That’s fine.” Jaehyun nodded. If she was admitting to her lack of knowledge, but was openminded, he could work with that.

“And I understand why you were kicked out. But I don’t agree. Do you want me to bring the topic up with our parents?” 

“Hell no! Just… don’t tell them about me at all!” Jaehyun yelped.

Hyuna contemplated for a moment, but he was 100% sure on this.

“Alright. Your choice. But you know, I’ll have an open ear and if you change your mind, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you. Honestly.”

“I feel like I already neglected my job as your older sister for long enough. But not anymore. So. You’re no longer on the streets, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I got lucky.”

“That’s a relief. What are you doing? Where do you live? Do you work?” Hyuna immediately asked. Jaehyun didn’t know what to make of this. It was the longest conversation the two had ever had, but he started to feel a bit overwhelmed.

Like a sassy, good goth fairy, Ten used this moment to waltz into the café, weighted down by bags.

Jaehyun started waving, so he’d notice him asap, and Hyuna turned in surprise. 

“Hi there. I see, you found company for the wait?” Ten asked sweetly, inspecting Hyuna thoroughly. The family resemblance wasn’t strong, Hyuna took after their father, Jaehyun after their mother. But he probably knew who she was.

Jaehyun still scrambled to introduce her, thankful for the comfortable familiarity that came from Ten, rather than Hyuna. 

“Yes, what a coincidence, right? This is Hyuna, my sister, Noona, this is Ten, my roommate.” Jaehyun explained, waving between the two of them.

“No, really now? What a surprise.” Ten chirped, but they both knew it wasn’t. The pleased smile on his face was more than enough proof. 

“It was rather unexpected. You live together?” Hyuna was obviously eying Ten cautiously. 

“That’s right, we found him on the streets and decided to give him another chance at life, since his family had abandoned him there.” Ten chirped on, but the tone didn’t erase the small side stab and Hyuna wasn’t that easily fooled, if the unpleased look on her face was anything to go by.

“Yes, thank you for that. It’s very… considerate of you. Well, Jaehyun, it was great seeing you again. Can you give me your phone number? I’ll give you mine, too.”

“Oh, phone number? Ten?” Jaehyun had never used the phone at Kun and Ten’s place. Well. He had answered it a handful of times before, when it was Yuta or Taeyong calling, but that was it. He had no clue what the number was, which was actually kind of sad.

Ten helped him out, and they left with a polite send-off. 

 

“You think you’re so sneaky.” Jaehyun snarked, when they were a few blocks away.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jaehyunnie? What sneakiness? You don’t mean to imply, that I had any idea who your sister is and send her there?” Ten blinked his eyes wide open. If he thought he looked cute… okay, maybe he did, but Jaehyun, unfortunately, was only weak for Taeyong’s puppy eyes.

“You didn’t, but you did know about Sohyun, didn’t you? Yuta surely told you, didn’t he?”

“I did hear a rumour. And then, my beloved first child came to me, asking for advice, because he was worried over his boyfriend not getting the courage up to face his past.”

“That first child thing is a bit disturbing.”

“Shut up, you don’t get a choice, second child.”

“But thank you. Honestly. I don’t think, I would have gotten over myself and gone. But it felt good, I think. Not in a way that I think I’m missing anything out, but… it’s nice to hear her actually caring.” Jaehyun admitted. “And honestly, I’m now even happier, that I get to stay with you guys.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet, gross! You’re welcome, Jaehyunnie. Please tell Kun, he’ll get adorably flustered and panicked.”

Jaehyun shook his head, over Ten being ridiculous again. 

 

Yuta and Taeyong were on the sofa, when they returned. Somewhere on the way home, Jaehyun had become Ten’s personal carrier, but he didn’t mind much. 

Taeyong jumped over the backrest and into Jaehyun.

“Welcome home, I missed you, I thought you had died from Ten’s intense shopping.” Taeyong whined, pressing kisses to his cheeks and lips. 

Ten snorted and crushed Yuta into the couch, who groaned, and they started fighting immediately. 

“The shopping we did when I first came was much more exhausting. Not to mention, I spend the second half in a café. Look, I brought raspberry ice tea for you, with lots of sugar.” Jaehyun pulled the bottle from the bag.

“Oh, that’s so cute, thank you, this looks delicious! What café did you go to?”

Jaehyun saw the question burning in Taeyong’s eyes, but he looked so cute, trying to not be obvious, that Jaehyun wanted to let him struggle for a little longer. 

“Oh, the one where I was with Yuta before.”

Taeyong looked very frustrated now, like he wanted to shake him to say more, but didn’t want to give himself away.

“I know you were part of Ten’s plan, by the way.” Jaehyun dropped and Taeyong let out a small whine.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to get involved in your business, but I felt like I needed to do it for you, give you a push.”

Jaehyun grinned and kissed him on his pouting lips.  
“I’m not mad. Actually, I’m thankful. I met up with my sister, and we talked a bit. Turned out, she really didn’t know my parents kicked me out, and they proceeded to erase me from the family tree.”

“That’s…”

“It’s fine, really, like I told you, I’m over that, have been for years now. And if she wants to be a small part of my life, that’s nice. But I much prefer staying with all of you, instead. Especially you, though.”

Taeyong boxed his arm, and there were unshed tears in his eyes, when he pulled Jaehyun down for another kiss, and this time took his time, licking into Taeyong’s moth, who opened willingly and started leaning heavily onto him.

Jaehyun snaked his down Taeyong’s back and he had about to dip lower than the waist, when Ten screeched and Yuta hollered:

“Get a room!” 

Jaehyun would have ignored them, but Taeyong startled and hid in his chest in embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~


	10. Chapter 10

Jaehyun wanted to thank Taeyong for having Ten kick his butt and talk to his sister, and since he had gotten so excited over the prospect of a date, he planned just that. 

But this time, he wanted it to be worth of the title.

So, he asked Kun.

“A date? Well, there’s going to see a film, but I find that very un-social. Back in my days, well, there was no dating, just match making, but you could sometimes stretch the rules at festivals. Lit up alleys can be very tempting. But I don’t know of one in the near future. A nice long walk along Han perhaps?”

Jaehyun’s thoughts trailed off the important topic of the date-location, to ancient China. History classes seemed so long ago, but he knew there were different dynasties in China.

“Jaehyunnie, are you actually listening?”

“Hm?”

“I suggested going to the Olympic Park to stroll.”

“Oh, yeah.” Boring. “I was just wondering, weren’t there different dynasties in China? Which one are you from?”

Kun’s eyes got a spark Jaehyun was used to seeing in Ten, before he suggested something inappropriate, so it seemed like he had hit bull’s eye. He’d figure something out about the dating-situation later.

“Yes, the dynasties changed with the reigning house. I was born in the Ming Dynasty, which, by the way, didn’t include all of China as we know it today. It’s a big country, that changed a lot over time, like many countries.”

“South Korea did, too.” Jaehyun pointed out and Kun nodded.

“Yes, it did. Which is why before, it was simple to travel over land, but now, who isn’t registered is more or less stuck, unless you use highly risky, illegal ways.”

“I didn’t even think about that.” Jaehyun suddenly realised.

“Yes, ever since the war came to a halt and the borders were closed, it’s been nearly impossible to leave. Especially since the police these days have the Hunter union behind them. They know what to look for, and they do with eagle eyes. Like we told you, you don’t want to get into trouble with the hunters. So, we just stay here.”

“Don’t you miss your home?” Jaehyun carefully asked. 

“Honestly, I hope I will get the chance to go home. But I don’t really miss it. If I want to talk Chinese with someone, I go to China town. Someone who’s really home bound, wouldn’t have stuck around to help Koreans, but just gone home in the first place. Obviously, the three of us all aren’t like that, which is one of the reasons why we work well together.

“I actually don’t miss China, but I rather miss changing my home from time to time. I’ve never stayed in one place for this long, ever since I left my home after getting turned. Every five years or so, you should move somewhere people don’t know you, so no one notices you being frozen in time. Sure, you can just move from one part of Seoul to another. No one notices. But I used to go from town to town, country to country. I’ve lived in many part of Asia and Europe, though I’ve never left the continent. I miss that, rather than missing home.

“I got used to settled life with time, the coven really became a family which I treasure, rather than mixing it up every time I move. There’s always pros and cons to everything.” Kun smiled. “It’s up to you to see the pros or the cons, isn’t it?”

“Wow, that’s actually… really mature.”

“Well, someone in this household had to try and be a responsible adult, right?” Kun sighed. That was trued, they sure as hell couldn’t expect Ten to do the job.

“Now, about your date. I get it, you young people need more action. What about Lotte World?”

“That’s actually quite brilliant! I would have never thought of that! Thank you!” Jaehyun beamed, before remembering something else. “Oh, and Ten told me, to thank you again for taking me in. I was reminded of how thankful I am for that once more, when I talked to my sister. So: thank you.”

Kun started fidgeting, patting Jaehyun’s elbow at high speed.

“Aiyo, you… it’s really… nothing special… of course I did… and look how good you are for us… really!”

So, that was what Ten had wanted to see.

Too bad for him he wasn’t here.

 

Jaehyun chose the day right in the middle between feeding nights. It was ideal, because they still had high energy, while also having gotten enough sleep the night prior. He was looking forward to spending the day with his boyfriend, and when the bell rang, he may or may not have rushed to the door, like his life depended on it.

“Good morning.” Taeyong chirped and Jaehyun felt his jaw drop open. 

His hair had the lightest shade of lavender, freshly dyed to the roots, cut so it framed his face perfectly, but he had put in a bunch of shiny pins on the side to hold it back. To top it off, he was in a light blue, huge sweatshirt, looking so beautiful, Jaehyun felt absolutely inadequate next to someone as angelic and…

“Please stop drooling, it’s embarrassing, I mentioned this before.” Ten snarked. 

“You look so beautiful.” Jaehyun breathed, stepping closer to feel Taeyong’s hair between his fingers.

“Thank you! You look very handsome, and look, we match!” he excitedly held his sleeve to Jaehyun’s boring shirt, that happened to have a similar shade. 

“This is so exciting!” 

“Oh god, please just go, and please make sure to fuck it out at a hotel afterwards, I can’t take this anymore!” Ten dramatically whined. 

“Did you know, love hotels aren’t a thing in America? Because I know, since I lived there for four years.” Jaehyun mentioned. He had to force himself to keep from touching his ears, which was a habit he seemed unable to kick, despite them no longer giving him away. Because the motion itself was now, what told people he was embarrassed.

But he had noticed, that the repeated mention of his stay in the US worked wonders to annoy the Thai. And it worked this time, too.

“Yes, very nice, bye, have fun on the rides, keep your arms and legs inside at all times, they take 24 hours and a lot of blood to grow back, scare lots of homophobes by holding hands and being disgustingly cute and make them feel bad, because you look much better than them, and use lots of lube and remember: foreplay is the key to good sex. Bye!”

The door clicked shut and Jaehyun blinked at Taeyong.

“Well, guess we get going, then.”

“I don’t have my keys.” Jaehyun patted himself down, but no one opened, when he started knocking and calling that he couldn’t come home like this.

 

They didn’t hold hands, but they still walked very close, their arms touching, and their hands sometimes brushing against each other. It wasn’t really enough, but it had to be. 

Taeyong got the map of the park and immediately unfolded it, not even ten steps into the actual park. 

“Alright, we have to make a plan, so we don’t miss anything exciting.” 

Taeyong marched through the park, like he was on a mission. It was very endearing, and he always tugged Jaehyun by something, be it his sleeve, or jacket, so he would really come. 

But after one ride on the spinning coaster, Taeyong was so sick, that they spend the next two hours on a bench. But even that was perfectly fine, because they kept chatting over all the things they spotted.

 

“I want to see the castle, when it’s lit up. I saw pictures and it looks really stunning.” 

“Sure. It shouldn’t be that long anymore until it’s dark.” Jaehyun contemplated, looking up in the sky.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, we wasted so much time on this bench. We can move on now, I don’t feel too dizzy anymore.” Taeyong muttered and started to get up. Jaehyun carefully helped him stand up and only let reluctantly go, when he was sure Taeyong actually wasn’t dizzy and sick anymore.

“I told you, it’s fine. I didn’t come here to experience all the rides but have fun with you. And I still got you. You’re much more interesting than any coaster could ever be.” Jaehyun explained and Taeyong whined, hitting his arm a little, like he liked to do, when embarrassed. It was cute, too.

“Fine, but at least let us get some cotton candy, okay?”

“More sugar?”

“Please?” Taeyong blinked up. Like Jaehyun would have actually said no in the first place.

 

They strolled through the park much more leisurely now. Taeyong kept ripping off little pieces of the cotton candy and either putting them into his mouth, or giving them to Jaehyun, who had tried to protest, but Taeyong had waved the cotton candy and said how delicious it was and… well.

As the sun sunk lower in the sky, the families started to leave, taking the children with them, leaving mainly groups of young people, and couples. 

“Taeyong?” 

“Hm?” Taeyong looked up from where he was folding the stick the cotton candy had been in into tiny pieces.

“Do you want to hold hands?” Jaehyun carefully suggested. He had watched the other couples, and envy had stirred in his gut. Which was dumb, since his boyfriend was literally right beside him. And he was much prettier than anyone else in the park, and he wanted people to know he was all his.

Taeyong crushed the stick in surprise. “Really? I – yes, I really want to, but I know you’re still a bit uncomfortable, do you really want to? I’d be so happy to.” 

Jaehyun chuckled, and just held out his hand for him. Taeyong immediately interlaced their fingers and happily swung their hands between them.

“Did you know, that Sleeping Beauty’s original fairy tale is actually rather gruesome? The version Disney used is far sweeter, than what the original telling from Europe is, and there’s also the version from the original Brother Grimm’s’ book, that is even more horrifying.” Taeyong started, as the Magic Island’s castle came into view. 

The sky was dark enough now, that the building looked magnificent and magical, it up brightly against the night sky, as they walked straight towards it. 

“I don’t want to think about horror fairy tales, if this looks so pretty. Do you?” Jaehyun asked. The soft light made Taeyong look even more like an elf, than he already did.

“Yeah, probably not. My bad.”

“No reason to be sorry. Let’s just enjoy the beautiful view.”

“You’re looking at me, though.”

“I know.”

Taeyong giggled and playfully pushed him, but never let go of his hand, so Jaehyun pulled him along, and he tripped over his own feet. Jaehyun’s grip of his hand tightened, and he quickly wrapped his other arm around Taeyong’s waist, to keep him from falling, and the shorter found purchase in his shirt, steadying himself against Jaehyun.

“Thank you. Sorry, I brought that upon myself and then used you as a steadying pole.” 

“I’ll be your steadying pole any day. Come on, up you go.”

Taeyong wrapped himself tighter around Jaehyun.

“But it’s so comfy.” 

Jaehyun just laughed about his silliness, and continued walking, making Taeyong awkwardly walk half backward, half sideward to keep up, and they ended up laughing even harder. 

Like this, is was so easy to ignore the dirty looks some people threw them. Jaehyun still saw them, and surely, so did Taeyong. But where he usually felt hurt, worried and would want to stop them, he now was just happy now.

They watched the castle for half an hour, just snuggling and enjoying themselves, before they finally started to their way back to the exit.

“Do you still want to go to a hotel?” Taeyong suggested, after they finally let go of each other’s hands to walk through the gate, which only let one person pass at a time.

They had been to one before, after feeding a few days ago. It hadn’t been too scandalous, so Jaehyun just nodded, not thinking much of it. There was little privacy in a flat with vampires, who heard through any wall, especially when they wanted to, and Jaehyun didn’t even have his own room.

The prospect of getting Taeyong’s hands all over him, and getting to touch Taeyong all over, did excite him, though, and they spurred each other to walk faster and faster.

 

They fell onto the bed immediately after closing the door, not bothering to waste any time on getting acquainted with the room. In Jaehyun’s opinion, if you knew one love hotel, you knew them all. Instead, he framed Taeyong’s face with his hands, as they licked into each other’s mouths.

He was on his back, Taeyong straddling him, but hovering over his torso, not yet pressing against him. Jaehyun kept stroking his jaw, his neck and tugged a little bit on the lavender strands he could reach.

He felt himself harden in his pants, and it was easy to notice Taeyong was in a similar state, when his hips shifted against his waist every so often. Jaehyun wanted to pull him closer, but his fingers got caught in Taeyong’s hair, and he pulled rougher than he wanted to, yanking his back out of the kiss.

There was an apology on his lips, but Taeyong let out such a sweet moan, Jaehyun swallowed it, looking at his boyfriend in surprise. Somewhere in the back of his head, a few remarks Yuta had made, resurfaced.

“Oh my god, please ignore that.” Taeyong whelped, hiding his face in embarrassment.

“Why? Did you not like it?” Jaehyun asked, settling a hand on Taeyong’s hip, the other on his shoulder, wanting to pull him back down. He wanted to hear him moan like that again, the sound had gone right to his dick, making him ache for more.

“Isn’t it weird?”

“Nope, can you kiss me more, please, I didn’t mean to yank you back. I’m actually sorry, I did. Though… maybe not.”

“Stupid.”

Taeyong still leaned back down, reconnecting their lips and Jaehyun happily went back to sucking on his lips and tongue, letting his hands finally drop on Taeyong’s body, over his ass, kneading it through the fabric of his pants. Jaehyun had gotten comfortable with the intimacy they had shared so far. 

He figured he had gotten the hang of how to make Taeyong feel good with his hand. Taeyong had gone down on him a few times, too, and that felt incredible, however, Jaehyun had found himself quite awkward, as he tried to repay the favour, so that was something he still had to work on.

However, Taeyong never once had made him feel bad over his inexperience.

“Hey, do you want to try something different?” Taeyong whispered against his lips.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do you want to fuck me?” Taeyong purred and Jaehyun’s stomach made a flip, as he couldn’t hold back a small groan.

“Really? I…”

“I’d like you to.”

Jaehyun grinned and nodded, so Taeyong leaned back down to press a sweet kiss on his lips, before raising himself on his knees, to start and strip.

 

Even after having seen him naked several times, Jaehyun still got mesmerized by the way, his pale skin stretched over Taeyong’s lean, almost skinny body. And he knew he felt the same, from how intensely Taeyong kept looking back at him, running his hands over his arms, his chest, his abs or thighs. 

“So pretty.” Jaehyun whispered, trailing his fingers over Taeyong’s nipples, earning himself a shudder. 

“Your body is better, so sexy.” Taeyong whined, tugging on his shoulders for another kiss, that Jaehyun happily gave him.

However, as their clothes got less, Jaehyun started to get a bit nervous. He knew the basic process, thanks to Ten’s dirty literature, but doing it in real life was something else.

Then again, with Taeyong, why was he worrying?

As their underwear hit the floor, Jaehyun grabbed Taeyong’s back, wanting to gently turn their positions, before he thought better of it, and roughly took his wrists and bodily threw them around, pinning them onto the mattress next to his face.

Taeyong was obviously surprised, before grinning up at him. He moaned happily, when Jaehyun slid one hand down his body, brushing over his dick.

“We need lube.” Jaehyun reminded Taeyong, who bucked up against his hand. It was amazing to see, how easily he reacted to his touch, how sensitive he got.

“We’re in a love hotel, don’t they have stuff like that?” Taeyong complained.

He was right, so Jaehyun started looking, finding both lube and condoms after a bit of searching. Taeyong hadn’t moved from the bed, watching him with dark eyes, legs spread a little, dick still hard on his stomach. He was beautiful.

Jaehyun climbed back on top of him, steadying himself on one elbow next to his face and kissing him passionately, pushing him against the mattress. Taeyong started moaning into the kiss now, and Jaehyun’s dick throbbed from the sound.

“Can you stretch me?” Taeyong asked, his voice rough and deep.

“I’ll try.” Jaehyun wanted nothing more, than to make this good for Taeyong, even when he wasn’t the one doing this for the first time. But Taeyong only deserved the best.

So, he focussed on Taeyong, instead of mulling over his own nervousness, that was lingering in his gut. The lube was cold on his fingers, so he rubbed them a bit, to warm it up, while Taeyong easily spread his legs, making his expectations obvious.

He carefully trailed over the perineum and watched Taeyong twitch under his hand, before circling his rim, wishing, he had done some experimenting on himself, so he’d knew what it felt like. 

“Please, Jaehyun.” Taeyong whined, after some more ministrations, and Jaehyun wanted to ask, what he wanted, but from how he pushed his hips down, against nothing, he got a clear guess what it was.

He carefully pushed his ring finger against the tight ring of muscle, that gave way surprisingly easily. Taeyong sighed happily, closing his eyes. Jaehyun paid attention to his face, as he slowly pushed in further, but the content expression never changed, so he kept going, until he was in to his knuckles.

“Please, move, Jaehyunnie, please.” Taeyong gasped, when he stilled, wanting to give him a moment. “I do this often, I don’t need as much time.”

“You do?” Jaehyun asked, his voice coming out strained, as images of Taeyong fingering himself unbiddenly flashed behind his eyes. 

“You don’t?” Taeyong’s voice kept coming out low and raspy, and Jaehyun started steadily thrusting his finger in and out.

“No.” Jaehyun admitted. He wasn’t turned off by the idea, obviously, but he had never felt the desire to have anything up his ass.

“Okay, add another finger.” Taeyong started wiggling a bit.

“Aren’t you forgetting the magic word?” Jaehyun smirked, despite still feeling out of his element, and let his hand still.

Taeyong reacted by closing his legs, which were blocked by Jaehyun’s frame, so they dug into his sides, in frustration, but hurried to add a breathy “Please.”

With two fingers, it felt easier, like he knew what he was doing, and Jaehyun decided to try and crook them a little, until he found a spot that made Taeyong whine and buck up.

“There?”

“Yes, please, please.”

Taeyong’s legs closed around him tighter and tighter, as he continued to work him open on two, then three fingers, and he tried to figure out just how many times and how strongly he had to rub over that sweet spot of his to make him feel good, but not overwhelm him.

It was a learning curve Jaehyun felt he was at the very bottom of, with tiny process, when Taeyong told him, it was enough.

“That’s fine, please, I want your dick.” 

Jaehyun squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as he imagined being inside the slick warmth, and pulled his fingers out, rubbing them off on the sheets carelessly. The condom lay next to the lube, and he struggled to open the foil pack, until long fingers took it from him.

“Let me.” Taeyong chuckled, easily ripping it open, scooting closer, until he could wrap his fingers around Jaehyun’s dick to give a few bold strokes, that had him clench his hand into the bedding, after having neglected it for so long.

“It’s hard when your hands are slippery.” Taeyong mumbled, as he rolled it over his dick, and Jaehyun focussed on the idle conversation, instead of how good, and warm the fingers felt on his dick.

Taeyong wordlessly slicked him up, before glancing between them.

“Do you think you can fuck me like that? Missionary? Or should I ride you? I have confidence you can move your hips well, from how you danced, but if you feel uncomfortable, that’s fine, too. I can ride well, so I’ve been told.” Taeyong smiled and Jaehyun had to remind himself that now was not the time to be jealous over people, who never had what he had, and were nothing but flings in Taeyong’s life.

“I want to try.” Jaehyun announced, and Taeyong nodded, before lying back down, letting his legs fall open easily. Having a flexible boyfriend had many perks.

Taeyong offered a hand, and Jaehyun gratefully took it, before lining himself up. “Just go at any pace, okay? A little burn is fine, I like that.” 

Jaehyun had no doubt about that and he wanted to test, how exactly he could make Taeyong fall apart in the future. But right now, he just wanted to last longer than 10 seconds and hopefully not make a complete fool of himself in the process. 

He started pushing into him, gasping softly at how amazing the warmth that started to engulf his dick felt. Taeyong groaned in the back of his throat, and Jaehyun absentmindedly thought, that he was probably going too fast, wanting to feel him on his dick too desperately, but Taeyong’s face stayed relaxed, looking like he was still enjoying himself, so he didn’t stop until he bottomed out.

Taeyong locked his legs around him, holding him in place and squeezing tighter around him at the same time. Jaehyun couldn’t help, but softly groan.

“Just a sec.” Taeyong muttered, voice strained. 

Jaehyun wanted to give him all the time in the world, forcing his body to freeze, even when his instincts told him to thrust into the warmth. Lucky for him, he didn’t need long to adjust, before Taeyong told him to move.

Jaehyun’s hips snapped forward on their own accord the first few times, but he managed to settled at a somewhat even rhythm quickly enough. Taeyong picked it up, rocking back down against him in time. The sensation didn’t compare to anything he had felt before, or what he could do by himself.

Jaehyun felt so good, it would have been easy to get lost in the feeling, but he still wanted Taeyong to feel good as well, unsure how to achieve that, he decided to ask.

“Should I jerk you off?” His voice was breathy and raspy and he started at the column of Taeyong’s white neck, bared before him. Pressure started building in his stomach, and he felt like it was much too soon at the same time as wanting to desperately come.

“Yeah.” Taeyong huffed back, and Jaehyun quickly grabbed his dick. It turned out to be a good distraction from where he was getting too close.

He watched him arch up from the bed, adjusting the angle at which Jaehyun kept thrusting, and it looked so beautiful and hot at the same time, Jaehyun felt himself fall out of rhythm, as he started to mindlessly chase his orgasm.

“It’s okay, Jae, just come.” Taeyong whispered and the low rumble was enough to send him over the edge, pushing into him a few final times, before the euphoria of his orgasm was overtaken by hypersensitivity, and he pulled his softening dick out.

Taeyong clenched around nothing, whining softly. He still had his hand on his dick, so Jaehyun started to pick the pace back up, tugging harshly, how he knew Taeyong liked it.

It didn’t seem to be enough today, though, because Taeyong’s fingers reached for his hole, and Jaehyun watched in silent fascination, how he pushed into himself just right, a shudder going through his body and with a few more pumps that he times to the pace of his thrusts into himself, he came with a low moan.

Jaehyun stroked him through it, how he knew he liked it, and a few beats later, Taeyong sunk into the bed exhaustedly.

He didn’t dare break the silence, feeling somewhat ashamed, that he hadn’t been the one to make Taeyong come all by himself, but he had to help.

But he didn’t need to, as Taeyong pulled him down to lie next to him, pressing a slow, lazy kiss to his lips.

“That was good, for the first time.” He muttered against Jaehyun.

“Really?”

“Didn’t you feel good?” Taeyong perked up worriedly.

“No, I felt amazing, but you…”

“I felt amazing, too! Your dick has the perfect size and your hips are strong!” Taeyong argued, petting said body part. 

“But you had to make yourself come.” Jaehyun sighed, feeling a bit silly.

“So? Maybe, next time, I’ll come first. I still really liked it. We could do that lots from now on. Practice makes perfect.” Taeyong grinned, and Jaehyun stared at him, before laughing.

“I love you!” Jaehyun chuckled, before realising, what he had said and freezing.

Taeyong hadn’t missed it, and blinked at him a few times, before asking: “Say that again!”

He swallowed, letting the words echo in his mind. He hadn’t thought about it, when he had just burst out with it, but the more he did, the less he regretted just blabbing them out.

So, he leaned over, kissing Taeyong sweetly, and repeating: “I love you, Lee Taeyong.”

“Aigoo, so cheesy.” He giggled, swatting Jaehyun’s arm. “Are you angry, if I need a little longer to say it?”

“No. I could never be angry with you!” Jaehyun earned himself another slap.

 

It took Taeyong another two weeks, to say the three words, and Jaehyun didn’t realise, what a difference it would make. He was walking on clouds, much to Yuta’s played annoyance.

Things settled into normalcy. 

Jaehyun managed to separate his fangs from his emotions a year after turning. 

After that, he decided to introduce Taeyong to Hyuna, with whom he met up from time to time. His sister seemed to take three meetings to get used to Taeyong’s face, but Jaehyun couldn’t blame her. His boyfriend was the most beautiful and stunning being on earth, after all.

Jaehyun eventually got off his ass and took the college entrance exam. With much of Kun’s support and his book smartness, he placed in the top of the country, opening himself the chance to finally study medicine, how he had wanted to.

Five years passed in a wink, and by the time Jaehyun had to say bye to Hyuna for good, it was with some sadness. However, the sadness over saying goodbye to his understanding sister came with the pettiest revenge plan, Jaehyun could have thought of. 

He had the result from the test that qualified him for practical training in his pocket and his hand interlaced with Taeyong’s, who buzzed in anticipation. 

Admittedly, the main planning had been done by Yuta, who apparently had done this a few times before, but Taeyong was more than happy to help.

Jaehyun five years ago would have just let it go, but five years in which you didn’t struggle to survive, left you with a lot of time to think about all the unfairness in the world. 

If Jaehyun could at least show his parents, that their selfish actions hadn’t stopped him, maybe think over them again, he was satisfied.

“You really did live in a fancy house. Too bad we’re moving to the edge of Seoul.” Taeyong muttered, as he looked around the marble entrance hall. The security guards openly stared at their interlaced hands, and Jaehyun had to clear his throat, to get his attention.

“How can I help you?” he asked, not even bothering to look at him. 

“To Jungs’, number 36.”

“I need to see an ID there.”

“If you continue to disregard basic politeness, such as eye contact with the guests of the residents, I think you will have asked for an ID for the last time this evening.” Jaehyun snarled. That finally made the man look up and Jaehyun quickly slipped into his mind, like Ten had taught him to, holding onto his consciousness, so he couldn’t look away again and keep him from bewitching him.

“You will let both of us up and tell the Jungs their son his here to see them.”

“I will. Please, this way.” 

They entered the elevator, which you could only access, if security let you pass, and Taeyong’s eyes were still wide, taking everything in.

“I honestly think, we should have moved to Gangnam or something. To a super fancy building like this.” He whispered, when the doors closed. “Not to mention, you look so hot, when you tell people what to do.”

Jaehyun smirked at him, but before he could do anything, the doors pepped and slid open. 

A small burst of nervousness suddenly flashed through his stomach, but Taeyong noticed, and squeezed his hand, and it was gone.

The hallway hadn’t changed either and the door opened, before Jaehyun could even get to the bell.

It was his mother, staring at him, like she had seen a ghost.

“Hello, mother.” Jaehyun greeted stiffly. “Hyuna-Noona invited us, as a goodbye dinner, since I will be moved. Actually moving, this time, not just kicked out of the house. You know.” 

The look of absolute horror was oddly satisfying.

“Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Lee Taeyong, Jaehyunnie’s boyfriend.” Taeyong chirped, and her head snapped around, like she had only now noticed. She was stunned into silence, it seemed, just staring between the two of them.

“Ah, Jaehyun.” Hyuna suddenly came to the hallway, opening the door wider, gesturing for them to come in.

This snapped their mother out of her shock and her face turned angry. She pulled Hyuna aside, while Jaehyun stepped into the familiar hallway. She was hissing at Hyuna, that her lying would have consequences, thinking Jaehyun and Taeyong couldn’t hear her.

At least, she wasn’t insulting them yet.

“It’s still the same as ten years ago.” Jaehyun chirped happily. His sister knew how to stick up for herself, he didn’t need to get between them. She was in a leading position at the company and didn’t put up with people’s shit, from what Jaehyun knew.

“Must be nice.” Taeyong smiled, not letting go of his hand.

“Kind of. There used to be a family picture of four people here, though.” Jaehyun pointed at a formal picture of his family – sans him.

“Come on, Jaehyun, dinner’s almost ready.” Hyuna called. He wasn’t sure what she had told their parents, but he knew his father was home. His keys were on the wall, still with the very same key chain he had used, when Jaehyun had grown up.

“Are you sure your dad’s here?” Taeyong whispered. 

“Yeah, he is. Don’t worry, we’ll be kicked out before we could get any food between our teeth.” Jaehyun assured. 

Their living room had been redecorated, but the wooden table was still the same, just in a different place.

“I’m going to get your father. Hyuna, get these two something to drink, I don’t want to seem like a bad host.” His mother said, avoiding to even look at Jaehyun. Heart-warming.

Taeyong was busy looking at the photos on the wall, while Jaehyun lent Hyuna a hand. The kitchen looked newer, but all things were still in the same place, like they had just replaced things one at a time.

“Are you sure, you wanna do this?” Hyuna asked, worriedly.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I know what they’ll be like. I just want to rub in, that I succeeded without them. I know they’ll still behave like assholes.”

“Well…” Hyuna chuckled. “I admit, I hope it’ll be entertaining. Finding you again and working for dad has been very eye opening. I’m glad I’m moved out of here.”

“I hope we can put on a bit of drama for you.” 

“Ah, I think I’ll miss you a bit. Do you really have to move to South Africa?” 

“We can write letters.”

“Who even writes letters anymore. It’s email, these days, Jaehyun!” she shook her head.

Someone came closer, stomping heavily, and Jaehyun checked, to make sure Taeyong was further from the door than himself. 

It was his father, looking angry, appearing in the door. His eyes fell on Jaehyun, and his frown deepened. 

“Jaehyun?” he snarled.

“Hello father. I thought I’d say goodbye, before going abroad, and show you my fantastic exam results. I’m now officially allowed to treat patients with supervision.” Jaehyun announced, like his father wasn’t boiling in rage, with a bright smile on.

“I thought I told you to not show your face in this house again. I don’t have a son, who’s an abomination!” 

“Look, here’s the test results. I finished as the Top 5% of my year.” Jaehyun continued, unfolding the paper he had brought. 

“I’m so proud of him.” Taeyong chirped, wrapping his arm around him.

His father’s face was turning red now. If Jaehyun still cared the slightest, he’d get worried now. He didn’t care, though, so he just kept going.

“I don’t want any of this fag business in this house.” His dad exploded.

“Oh, we’re not here for any business, Mr. Jung.” Taeyong played dumb. Jaehyun heard Hyuna snort a laughter into her hand. “We’re just here for dinner for which Hyuna was nice enough to invite us.”

“Out, now! Don’t you dare show up here again, especially not with another…man!” his father exploded.

Jaehyun grabbed Taeyong’s hand, threw Hyuna an apologetic smile, and waved his parents good-bye with his test result-paper. His mother was just there, not saying anything. 

Just to spite them, he kissed Taeyong’s cheek, before they disappeared into the hallway. He could hear his father rage.

“That was… short. Don’t you wanna go back and make out or something?” Taeyong asked, while putting on his shoes.

“While that’s be fun, Ten told me, resurrecting from the dead takes 24 hours.”

“True. We should go home to make out then.”

“Great plan!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, next is the epilogue~


	11. Chapter 11

2018

“Ah, ah, please, Jaehyunnie.” Taeyong’s fingers dug into Jaehyun’s arms, where he was holding on for dear life. His back was pressed against the wall, his legs over Jaehyun’s arms, who was holding him up.

“Please what?” Jaehyun groaned, keeping the rhythm at which he was thrusting up into his steady. He knew exactly, what Taeyong wanted, but he wasn’t going to give it to him so easily.

“Faster. I’m so close.” He whined, throwing his head back.

Jaehyun slowed down, even though his own body was aching for release as well. Taeyong clenched down and moaned.

“Please, please, please.” 

“You’re so pretty, when you beg.” Jaehyun whispered.

Taeyong rolled his hips down, trying to get friction. Jaehyun let him drop a little, pushing into him roughly. 

He groaned, scratching over Jaehyun’s arms.

“I never said, you could do that.” he reminded with a low voice.

“I’m sorry. Please, please let me come. I’m so close.”

Jaehyun would have loved to lengthen it, make Taeyong beg some more, but his arms were getting tired from holding him up and his own dick was throbbing.

So, he started thrusting up steadily, quicker this time, angling how he knew he’d hit Taeyong’s sweet spot. 

Taeyong didn’t hold back, letting out moans with every hit and Jaehyun groaned, getting lost in the feeling of Taeyong tight and warm around him.

Jaehyun leaned in, capturing Taeyong’s lips in a messy kiss, that was mainly tongue, and Taeyong reached down to jerk himself off. 

“I’m close!” he moaned. Jaehyun put more force into his thrusts, and a few beats later, he felt the clench, that came with his orgasm, and Taeyong moaned deeply, triggering Jaehyun’s own.

He leaned down, peppering small kisses around Taeyong’s jaw and cheeks, while they both came down from their highs.

“Fuck, I love it, when we do this.” Taeyong sighed, when Jaehyun carefully set him down. He stumbled for a few steps, but Jaehyun steadied him.

“You okay?”

“Never better, just need to get feeling back into my legs. So, I take it you like the pink?” Taeyong grinned, fluffing his newly dyed, hot pink hair.

“I like everything on you.” Jaehyun threw the tied-up condom into the bin, when the doorbell rang.

“Do you have pants?” he looked around for the pair he must have worn earlier.

“No, I don’t, and my ass is all lubed up and gross, you go.” 

Jaehyun found Taeyong’s sweat pants and pulled them on, before rushing to the door.

Outside stood a bundled up Dongyoung, looking grim.

Their coven had grown a lot over the past 20 years, but especially in the recent weeks, they had almost doubled in size.

It was still new, to have this many people around, but Jaehyun really didn’t mind. There were different personalities to even each other out, and there was even more love in the coven now.

“Ten send me, to get his flatting iron or something?” Dongyoung muttered, not looking into Jaehyun’s eyes. 

“Oh, that was probably Taeyongie. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. You were… um… loud.” Dongyoung huffed and a grin settled on Jaehyun’s face.

“Have you been waiting for longer?”

“A bit…”

“I used to be all stiff about sex, too. Don’t worry, it gets less awkward over time.” Jaehyun laughed and patted Dongyoung’s shoulder, who looked very un-pleased.

“Here’s the iron. And next time, Ten sends you, remember he likes to mess with people. He has three others, he doesn’t need this, but he knows Jaehyun was going to fuck me, once he saw my new hair, and also knows you’re a bit uptight. That’s why he sent you, because he knew, you’d hear us. Sorry for that.” 

Dongyoung looked ready to dig his own grave and never return to the surface now. 

“I mean, if you do want to know more, just tell us, you can watch.” Jaehyun shrugged, because it was sort of funny to rile Dongyoung up, and so easy. No wonder, he was Ten’s newest victim.

“Watch?” Dongyoung’s voice had raised two octaves.

“Jaehyunnie, don’t mess with him too, you know he’s straight.” Taeyong shook his head, before turning to Dongyoung: “But if you’re curious, you can. It’s fine with us.”

“Oh my god, I don’t want to watch, I don’t want to be the third person in Lucas and Jungwoo’s threesome, either. I just want to live peacefully.” Dongyoung snapped.

Jaehyun raised an eyebrow. He was handing them out information for black mail, without even realising. 

“Alright. Just saying.”

“Thank you for this. See you tomorrow.” Dongyoung fled their flat.

“He’s too easy to tease. The moment Yuta has brain capacity for anything other than Sicheng again, he’s going to suffer.”

“isn’t he suffering already? You’re doing fine covering Yuta’s part.”

“Oh god, this is like children turning into their parents, isn’t it?” Jaehyun gasped and Taeyong rolled his eyes fondly.

“Yuta insisted on never being part of that, though.”

“Ten’s fault, then. I should pay him back by talking more about the USA with Johnny. He gets super annoyed by that.” Jaehyun chuckled.

“Yeah. They created a monster.” Taeyong shook his head with a smile.

“A monster you love, though.”

“Yes, the monster I love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who stuck around until the end. Special thanks to everyone who commented. <3  
> It turned out a lot longer than I had initially planned, hehe.
> 
> There's a pretty smutty sequel to this, if you're interested click [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986633).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading~


End file.
